Hunter X
by baynard
Summary: Suicide mission? Been there. Impossible task? Done that. Genin Academy?Wait...say what? This is what happens when you get demoted Naruto.
1. Prelude

**Bingo Book: Profile of Dangerous Personal **

**Name**: Uzumaki Naruto

**Age**: 12

**Gender**: Male

**Height**: 4'11"

**Eye color**: blue; red? (unconfirmed)

**Blood type**: B

**Hair color**: blond

**Weight**: 115 lb (last known)

**Country**: Fire

**Village**: Konoha of the hidden leaf

**Occupation**: Hunter-Nin

**Code-Name**: Hunter X

**Personality**: NA

**Description**: Extremely skilled and dangerous individual. Has been known to take down

a team of jounin.

**Recommendation**: Kill on sight if not allied with Konoha

**Record:** 33 C class kills 14 A rank missions completed

17 B class kills 7 B rank missions completed

4 A class kills 2 C rank missions completed

S rank missions (classified)

**Ninja profile**:

Taijutsu: excellent

Ninjutsu: excellent

Genjutsu: average

Traps: good

Weapons: good

**Blood Limit: **NA

**Family Jutsu:** NA

**Miscellaneous**: Often sighted with Mitarashi Anko (see page 194 for profile). Loyalty towards village is questionable, due to a number of unconfirmed reports of his speaking of his hatred towards his village. Shows complete devotion towards the Third Hokage of Konoha, Sarutobi (see page 297 for profile). Rumored to have developed a number of forbidden jutsus, but has yet to be confirmed. Never seen in public without his Hunter-Nin mask; Hunter-Nin mask has a distinguishing X shaped mark.


	2. Tick Tock here comes the rock

_**AN 10/14: Wow, it's really been that long since I started this fic huh? If I had a kid when i started writing, he/she would be in first grade! o-O**_

_**Theme Song of this chapter is for...Kakashi!**_

_**Kakashi: Into the nothing by Breaking Benjamin**_

**An: Ah, now that my finals are over, and my SAT is**_** in the past, I can write fanfiction to my heart's content. But knowing my luck some shit will come up. Lol. Here's chapter one of Hunter X. I will be shamelessly taking ideas from any anime, book, or movie that may enhance the story, so send me a review if you recognize anything!**_

**Note: **Kyuubi "**spoken" 'thought' **

The silence in the mossy forest could be described as unnatural. Some would go as far as saying that it was a supernatural occurrence, for how could a forest so large and full of life be completely devoid of sound? Granted, it was night time, and it was quite cold. But even then, there should have been some noise, some nocturnal animal creeping about, some insect chirping as it went moved around doing its business. Even the wind, which during the autumn season loved to howl and tease the leaves in the forest, was silent. It was as if Mother Nature was holding her breath in anticipation as she watched the drama unfold on her very bosom of earth and wood.

**Ganji POV**

How long have he been running? One day? One week? One hour? It did not matter. All he knew was that he had to get away. Kami must be coming to take his soul for all his sinful deeds. Why the hell did he ever run away from his village?! He was such a fool to think that he could escape. Oh Kami! That thing's presence was close! He was like a hunted animal! No matter where he ran that monster would find him!

**General POV**

The desperate missing-nin Ganji Momoto ran blindly through the forest, tearing through the dense woods at breakneck speed; stealth was completely forgotten as animal instincts took over. It was a losing battle. A shadow detached itself away from a tree overhead and followed silently over the running man. A flash of steel glinted through the darkened autumn night, and nearly a hundred feet away, the missing-nin ducked and managed to avoid the fatal strike. But still, he bled from the wound on his shoulder caused by the thrown blade. Wincing and quaking in fear, the former Grass-nin gave a howl of rage and blindly threw his remaining shurikens in the direction he assumed his assailant was. The spinning disks peppered the foliage above the escaping man sending a shower of leaves tumbling down towards the earth. Sweat dripped down his forehead as Ganji held his breath.

'Did I get him?' He took a hesitant step forward eyes squinting against the inky blackness. Then another. And another. Hope began to worm it's way into his heart and for but a moment he allowed himself to relax. A sharp whistle and a splatter of blood was the only sign that he lost. Gaping stupidly at the kunai that was embedded up to the hilt in his neck, Ganji gave an unintelligible gurgle before he fell forward. As his vision faded and his ragged shirt soaked up the pool of blood forming under his body he saw his killer drop from a nearby tree.

'Funny. I could have sworn he was taller.' Then the man knew no more as oblivion claimed him.

The short figure as Ganji observed, was somewhere around 4'11". He had waist length blond hair that seemed to reflect the little moonlight that managed to sneak through the dense leaves of the forest. His attire consisted of a black fishnet shirt under a vest made of some type of animal leather with many pockets. His black pants matched his shirt and surroundings, and a pouch with gleaming projectiles peeking out of the open flap was bandaged to his right leg. Around his waist, he wore a small supple pouch that all traveling shinobi's wore. But what was most captivating about the young boy, was his face. Or rather, his lack of one. In place of his face, was a blank mask; a leaf symbol adorned its forehead, but what attracted the eye was the angry red slash mark that formed an ominous X on the right side of his mask. The mask covered his face entirely, and the only thing that could be seen were the two cold crystal blue orbs that stood observing the world through the two eye holes in the visor. His name was Uzumaki Naruto.

The young masked hunter-nin stood there for an unknown amount of time, quietly observing his dead prey. At last, his left hand snaked to the supply pouch at his waist and rummaged about until he produced a scroll. Unraveling it, he placed it on the ground revealing a huge volume of spiral Kanji that seemed to surround five giant block letters. Each of these block letters meant head. Four of them were red, but curiously, the last one was black.

Naruto crouched over the dead body and lifted it up slightly by the shoulder. Grasping the kunai buried in the neck, he pulled the razor sharp blade towards himself. A cascading waterfall of blood splashed onto the ground accompanied by the sounds of flesh being torn, and bones being sliced. His hands were dyed red as he separated the former Grass-nin's head from the cooling body.

His ghoulish work done, Naruto placed the decapitated head on the seal that was still black. Cutting his thumb with the bloody kunai in his right hand, the blonde swiped some of his blood on the kanji surrounding the head. Dropping the bloodied kunai, his hands flashed quickly through nine hand seals before he slammed the palm of his hand on the head. With a flash of blinding light, the slightly gaping head of Ganji vanished along with the blood dripping on the scroll. The final kanji for head, glowed an eerie crimson before fading to the dull maroon of half dried blood.

"**Well that was pathetic. They were so weak it was hardly a challenge. Your Hokage's mission assignment system is fucked up. No way that was an A rank!" **This strangely demonic voice could not be heard by anyone but Naruto, for deep within the recess of his mind, there lay a sealed demon, the Nine Tailed Fox of legends. The great fox had once threatened to annihilate the village of Konoha, but the Fourth Hokage in a desperate kamikaze maneuver had sacrificed his own soul to the death god in order to seal the fox in a vessel. That vessel was Naruto. Over the years, the fox and its jailer had come to a mutual silent and unconfirmed friendship, though if asked, neither would admit to it.

"It doesn't matter Kyuubi." The boy's voice was monotonous and bland from disuse. It was apparent that Naruto wasn't much of a talker. "The Hokage wanted the Viper gang taken out before they became a problem. I complied with his orders." Rolling up the scroll, Naruto returned it to his supply pouch and stood back up.

"**Feh," **sneered the lord of demons. "**You're like an obedient dog. Your loyalty towards that old man is sickening. I'm going back to sleep. Wake me if you're going to kill something." ** With that, the demon's presence faded from Naruto's mind.

Picking up his fallen kunai, Naruto sent it point first into the ground to remove the blood coating it. Temporarily ignoring the blade embedded in the earth, Naruto made three hand seals. Raising his left hand into the air and allowing two fingers to point up, he made the same symbol with the right hand at his chest. After a moment of silence, a dense fog appeared in front of him. Sticking his bloody hands into the thick mist, he rubbed vigorously, allowing the water particles to remove the blood staining his palms. When he was done, the fog crept away as silently as it had come.

Turning around, Naruto stared for a moment at the headless body of Ganji. Removing the kunai knife from the ground, he nicked his right hand before tucking the blade into one of the many pockets on his vest. Forming five quick hand seals, he slammed his bleeding palm onto the ground. From his right hand, hundreds of black tattoo-like symbols appeared and crawled its way down onto the ground forming a spiral pattern. A loud band followed by a flash of smoke announced the arrival of a huge fox. It was nearly the size of a tiger, and looked equally dangerous. Its fur was gleaming silver, and its smoothness could only come from countless hours of grooming. Its face gave the appearance of mocking laughter, as though there was some great joke only it understood.

When it spoke, it's voice was clearly feminine even through it's inhumanly throaty purr. "You called Naruto-kun?" The silver fox fluttered her eyelashes playfully at him.

"Hai. Inoue, please take care of the body." The great fox hummed and rubbed her head against the blonde's leg.

"You know, you're going to spoil a girl like that." Naruto grunted and scratched her behind her ears; her favorite spot.

"You can leave when you're done." The fox leered and without warning leaped at the body, tearing into the flesh with her great fangs. The sound of bones being cracked by massive incisors filled the relatively quiet night, followed by the gulps of flesh being swallowed.

Turning away from Inoue's feasting, Naruto took off through the forest with only one thing in mind after a week of tracking and killing five missing-nins.

'Home'

**_An: Ah and there you have chapter one. The action begins in chapter two, when he gets home. Review please! I want to hear what people have to say so far._**


	3. some shits going down

******AN 10/15: It really does feel like a lifetime ago that I wrote this. I've decided that beyond correcting some atrocious grammar mistakes, I won't be tweaking too much of the story other than maybe adding a few facts here or there. The theme song for this chapter belongs to... ITACHI!**

**Itachi: Second Chance by Shinedown**

**An: And here we have chapter 2. Read and Review people**

**Note: **Kyuubi **"Talking" 'Thinking'**

It was nearing nightfall by the time Naruto returned to Konoha. Her majestic wooden gates stood nearly fifty feet tall, as did the massive stone wall that protected her inhabitants. Approaching the gatehouse that regulated entry and exit, he pulled out his passport and handed it to the guard. The man had shoulder length brown hair, and an unusually long senbon sticking dangerously out of his mouth. On his head, he wore the headband issued to all shinobi as a bandanna Instead of having the metal band covering his forehead, the leaf symbol covered the back of his head. After a few moments of staring at the man as he waggled the needle perilously in his mouth, he received a nod from the guard.

Putting away his passport, Naruto leaped for the rooftop of the nearest building. For a moment, he stood there, taking in the view of the Hokage Monument shrouded by the setting sun in the distant. A few minutes of staring was all he allowed himself before he took off across the rooftops towards the Hokage's office. Stepping cautiously, so as not to break off any of the roof tiles, the hunter-nin quickly arrived at his destination.

Entering via the front door, he nodded at the two Anbu guards and got a grunt of acknowledgement from the one on the left. Naruto made a beeline for the completed mission's desk, and luckily, there was no line. Pulling out the scroll from his supply pouch, he handed it over to a scar-nosed man who resembled a dolphin. The man smiled kindly as he took the scroll.

"Ah, X-san another successful mission I see." Naruto nodded mutely at the cheerful man, but that did not discourage him from striking up a conversation. "My name is Iruka. Normally I don't work on the mission desks, but I'm taking a day off from teaching the runts at the academy." The man rubbed the back of his head with his left hand and laughed nervously when he got no reply.

Unnerved and shifting needlessly, Iruka checked the scroll and added something on the computer on his desk. "Well, that's five more C rank criminals taken down under your record X-san."

"Naruto." Iruka blinked at the one word reply he was given. With a brusque nod of farewell, the young hunter-nin headed towards the spiral stairs that would lead to the Hokage's office. Walking at a leisurely pace, he soon found himself in front of two more Anbus. The boar mask grunted and nodded at him while the bear mask knocked on the oak doors they were guarding.

"Naruto has come to see you Hokage-sama." There was a moment of silence before a quiet reply floated through the heavy oak doors.

"Let him in."

Bear opened the door and gestured for Naruto to enter. The blonde was greeted by the sight of the wizened Third Hokage smoking a pipe behind piles of paperwork. The only thing that could really be seen was the Hokage's hat that he hated wearing so much.

Bowing, Naruto stood at attention before speaking. "The Viper gang was taken care of Hokage-sama."

Taking a drag from his pipe, Sarutobi smiled and nodded at his young friend. "I trust there were no complications?"

"No."

"Well then, you are dismissed Naruto. And if you are looking for Anko, she should be at post 23."

"Hai." Walking over to a nearby window, Naruto opened it and flung himself out, disappearing into the darkening night. Sarutobi sighed and pulled his hat down so that it covered his eyes.

'Sometimes I wonder if I did the right thing Minato." The Third stared morosely up at the portrait of the carefree Fourth in silent contemplation. A knock interrupted his musings.

"Hokage-sama. Your secretary has arrived." The Professor groaned as he watched his young assistant arrive with a pile of papers in her arms.

Jumping from rooftop to rooftop with the ease of practice, Naruto soon arrived at post 23 somewhere along the Eastern wall. Two kunais shot out of the darkness, aimed straight at his head. His right hand blurred as he delicately plucked the two blades out of thin air. Landing gently on the wall, he threw them both at their owner before settling himself in a crouch.

"Is that any way to greet your little brother Anko?" Laughter echoed in the darkness as a smirking woman stepped into the dim light. She wore her patented trench coat with a provocative fishnet shirt underneath. Her shorts hugged her hips and blended in to the night due to the dark coloring. Her shin guards were in place as were the shuriken pouch all shinobi's wore. She tossed her semi-short dark purple hair before blurring out of existence. She reappeared behind Naruto, put him in a headlock, then proceeded to deliver a power nuggie into his skull. Naruto struggled to release himself from his adopted sister's grip, and after a moment of flailing, Naruto emerged victorious.

Ducking out of her reach he calmly asked, "So where do you want to eat?"

Smirking slightly, Anko tapped her chin in mock thought before she answered. "Welllll, we could eat at your ramen stand, or my dango place, but there's that rich snobby place with old people and really classy food!"

Naruto snorted beneath his mask. "You just want to annoy them don't you?"

Anko grinned like a cat that got laid. "Oh you know it. Remember how that old lady squirmed when I chewed with my mouth open? Or when that old men left when I talked to you while chewing?" Anko burst out laughing and clutched her brother's shoulder in support. "Good times. Good times." She proceeded to crack up once more while Naruto stared at her indifferently.

"Shouldn't we change first? It does have some standards."

Anko sniggered. "So? It'll piss those old farts off some more." Naruto snorted again.

In a blink of an eye, both siblings were gone, racing off towards the riches district in Konoha, prepared to wreak havoc.

**Dream**

_He was surrounded. His left arm was torn to shreds, and dangled uselessly by his side. Multiple cuts crisscrossed his body, making bloody railroad tracks. His shirt was shredded to pieces, and part of his vest was missing. His mask was no longer in place; blood trickled down from his forehead, blinding him in his left eye. Naruto squinted out at his opponent with his good eye. A sea of blades and angry faces greeted him, but what was most prominent, was the fear. No matter how angry they looked, they all had a bit of awe and fear splashed onto their faces. _

"_So this is how it ends." The young shinobi snorted. He used his good hand to reach into one of the remaining vest pockets on his body. The movement caused many of the assembled shinobi to shift nervously, wondering what the boy was about to do. Many nearly dropped their weapons when he pulled out a lone cigarette. They stared in shock as Naruto put the cigarette in his mouth, and snapped his fingers, causing a small flame to erupt at the tips of his fingers. Putting the flame at the end of the cigarette, Naruto took a puff, and allowed the flames on his fingers to die out. Taking another deep drag, Naruto breathed out, allowing the smoke to rise from his mouth. He took a third drag, and allowed his conscience to fall into the deep chasm of his mind where he floated before the cage of Kyuubi._

"_Give me more power." The great fox snorted as he rolled over in his cage._

"_**I have already leant you one tails worth of chakra. Anymore, and the consequences would be dire." **Naruto smiled lightly as he looked up at the huge beast._

"_It doesn't matter anymore. We'll die either way." The great brute of a demon rested his head on a great paw and stared at the boy before him._

"_**Kit, you know that I cannot give you more power then that of which your body can generate. Anymore, and your body may collapse, or you may just explode from chakra overload." **The fox leaned in closer and peered down at the stoic boy before him. "**Your power already rivals that of the two tailed demon Nibi, and you have already defeated that annoying Raikage. Anymore and-"**_

_The gigantic fox quieted down as he saw his host raise his hand. "I know what could happen if I take in more power then necessary. It's a risk I'm willing to take." The demon stared thoughtfully down at his host._

"_**So be it." **The Kyuubi's eyes glowed red for a moment, and then a stream of red chakra seeped out of the cage and surrounded Naruto. The mass of power swept up his body, covering every part of him it came into contact with, until at last, it reached his head. The demonic chakra covered his face until only his eyes were visible. _

"_**Fare thee well Kit, fare thee well." **The chakra oozed into his line of vision, and-_

**Normal POV**

His eyes snapped open at the banging on his door. Throwing his sheets off, he put on his mask before padding softly to the entrance. 'What was that? It was not a memory. I don't recall that ever happening. Too real to be a dream' Beneath his mask, Naruto wore an expression similar to what one may associate with confusion.

"**It's what people call a premonition moron.**"

'What is this so called, premonition?'

"**Premonition is a glance at the future, a possibility that could happen, but can be avoided since you foresaw it."**

'…' 'You've been screwing with my dreams again haven't you?'

"**As if!" **scoffed the fox.

Naruto reached the front door as he finished his silent conversation with the trapped demon. Opening it, he was greeted with the sight of a panting Ebisu. The normally snotty man was sweating and wheezing as he caught his breath. "Naruto-kun there has been an emergency! The Hokage wishes to see you in the council room!"

The blonde nodded his thanks stiffly and took off towards the council room, still clad in his sleeping garments.

**Council Room**

Hiashi slammed his fists on the table in rage. "We cannot let them reach the Cloud village! They hold the secret to the Hyuuga bloodline!" A great murmuring swept through the wary councilors. People began shouting and throwing out wild ides, most of them useless. The Hokage stared gravely at the council as they argued among themselves while Hiashi stood by and seethed.

"Silence!" The room quieted down as the Hokage stood. "We need to think with a cool head, not squabble like children." Sitting back down, the aged shinobi sighed. "We need a plan to stop-" A quiet pop announced the arrival of Naruto who appeared in a crouching position in front of the Hokage.

"You called Ojii-san?" Sarutobi blinked as the room erupted in angry muttering at Naruto's disrespect.

"Naruto, I did not call for you." If the blonde was surprised, his mask did a wonderful job of hiding it.

"Ebisu said you sent for me." The Hokage glared at the council, knowing that one of them was responsible for impersonating him and tricking Ebisu into summoning Naruto.

Hiashi stood up excitedly and made his way over to the Hokage's side. "Hokage-sama, send Hunter-X! He may be the only one who can catch them!"

"NO!" The old man's voice thundering voice brought silence to the council room once more. "I will not be sending one of my shinobi on a suicide run that has little to no chance of success."

Hiashi turned desperately to Naruto. Kneeling down, Hiashi bowed before Naruto, electing a great gasp of surprise from the other councilors.

"Hiashi why are you bowing to him?!" "Get up Hiashi!"

"Quiet you fools!" spat Hiashi. Turning his attention back to Naruto, the pupil-less man calmed himself before speaking. "Uzumaki-san, you and the Hyuuga clan have had their differences in the past, but now, we must call upon your aid. I beseech you to help us in our time of need!" Naruto stared blankly down at Hiashi.

"Will someone inform me on these troubles?" The entire council blinked stupidly before realizing Naruto had no idea what they were talking about. Sarutobi sighed and put a hand on his forehead before speaking.

"A group of Hyuugas had been ambushed by Cloud shinobis. Both branch members died trying to protect Himura Hyuuga, but his body was not found. We're afraid the enemy shinobi may have taken his body." Once more, a grave murmuring swept through the council.

"Were the bodies confirmed by their records?" questioned the young hunter-nin.

"I'm afraid so. The bodies of the dead soldiers match the information we have on records, so it is unlikely to be the handiwork of another nation." Sarutobi waved his hand to silence Naruto's next question. "And the bodies couldn't have been left there, for they show signs of chakra use within the last 24 hours, the same time the Hyuuga's were killed. Plus, many of their tenketsu points were sealed, and most of them died from internal bleeding, a Hyuuga trademark killing move. If it's a setup, it's a very elaborate one." The Third stared gravely at the council. "I'm afraid I will have to declare war with Cloud soon."

Hiashi sat straight up, "But Hokage-sama! We still have time to catch them. Send X-"

"NO! I will not send Naruto on this foolish mission!"

Gaizen of the citizen council stood up. "But Hokage-sama, with Hunter-X's reputation of godlike stamina, and his skills at tracking, he could kill those shinobi before they reach their village!"

"Don't be a fool Gaizen!" shouted his female counterpart Ruka. "They have over a days head start, even for X-" The council once again erupted into senseless babbling at they argued over whether Naruto could reach the fleeing shinobi in time.

"I'll do it." A deathly silence reigned across the council room as they stared at the quite boy in shock. Even Hiashi gaped slightly.

"Naruto," began Sarutobi desperately. "You need not take this mission. It's not even a mission!"

The emotionless boy considered his words before speaking. "Ojii-san, you once told me that it was your dream to have peace in this village." A pin drop could have been heard as the room listened with rapt attention. "You are one of the few people who ever cared about me. I am willing to sacrifice myself for your dream Hokage-sama," Naruto whispered gently. A single tear trickled down the Third's face as he lowered his hat to cover his eyes.

Hiashi breathed a sigh of relief now that somebody was taking action. "May Kami watch over-"

Naruto whirled about and filled the room with enough killing intent to silence the Hyuuga head, and cause shivers throughout the room. "Make no mistake Hiashi-sama.," his harsh voice was like a knife through the silence. "I do this for the sake of my Hokage, not the Hyuuga. I have not forgotten the incident two years ago!" No one doubted that the emotionless boy was glaring under his mask. "Should I survive and complete my mission, I expect to be well compensated for my troubles."

The Hyuuga head nodded in understanding. "Of course, if you succeed in protecting the Hyuuga secret, we will be more then willing to pay you for your efforts."

Turning his attention back to the Hokage, Naruto bowed. "Thank-you, and good-bye Ojii-san." The Third nodded and smiled through tear filled eyes.

"Yes, good-bye Naruto-kun." A small pop and the blonde vanished. The Hokage waved his hand dismissively at the people still present.

"Leave," he whispered coldly. "I wish to be alone." The council wisely left at their lord's words. When the chamber was at last empty, a silent heartfelt sob could be heard.

**Apartment**

Naruto finished packing his gear and dressed himself properly in his hunter-nin garments. He stared at his full-length mirror for a second. **"Looks like that premonition may be coming soon faster then you think," **observed the unusually solemn Kyuubi. Naruto turned around and headed for the door.

"I meant what I said Kyuubi. If this mission will fulfill the old man's dream, then so be it."

The demon let loose a grumbling sigh. ** "You are too loyal for your own good." **The demonic presence faded from Naruto as he took off for the rooftops. After a few minutes of travel he arrived at his destination. Knocking twice on the apartment door, he waited silently for an answer. The door slammed open and he was greeted with the sight of a sleepy Anko while his ears were assaulted by her curses.

"It's two in the fucking morning! I just had a drink with my little bro, and my head is killing me! What the hell do you- oh hey Naruto." Naruto blinked beneath his mask at his adopted older sister's abrupt change in attitude. Shrugging it off, he took off his mask before speaking.

"I'm going on a mission Anko nee-chan." Anko blinked stupidly and stared at him.

"You woke me at two in the morning to tell me this?!" Naruto nodded

"Yes. I came to say good-bye." Anko blinked again.

"Good-bye? Come on little bro, you're scaring me here." She shivered as she stared at her brother's face. He never took off his mask, even when he was with her. Naruto gazed at her for a moment, imprinting the image of his sister in his mind before he put his mask back on.

"I doubt I'll be coming back nee-chan, and I wished to see you once more before leaving." The dark haired beauty smiled and laughed before leaning forward and wrapping the stiff boy in a hug.

"Of course you'll come back. I trained you my self didn't I?" She put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a silver blade with a snake rearing to strike as its handle. "I don't know what your mission is, but this blade may come in handy." Taking the ornamental dagger from his sister's hand, he gripped it tightly once before placing it in his vest.

"Thank-you" Anko laughed again and clapped her brother's shoulder. "Hey! Who says I'm giving it to you? I fully expect to get that back! And if you don't, I'll dig up your grave so I can kill you myself! Got it?!" He nodded his understanding.

"I understand. Good-bye and thank-you nee-chan." A small pop and he vanished.

Anko stood alone in the darkness for a moment. "Feh. Be careful you idiot." She headed back into her home. Needless to say, she didn't get much sleep that night.

**Konoha**** Gatehouse**

Asuma was currently standing at the gatepost to Konoha, smoking his favorite brand.

'Quiet night' He blinked as a short masked figure appeared. 'That height… It could only be-'

"Hey Naruto." The blonde nodded at him.

"Hello Sarutobi-sensei." He handed over his passport to the bearded chain smoker.

"Now what's all this sensei crap? I stopped teaching you nearly a month ago!" He chuckled as he searched through Naruto's paperwork. "Call me Asuma."

"Very well…Asuma." The older shinobi grunted as he looked carelessly over his former pupil's passport.

"Well, everything seems to be in order." Looking up from his work, he found Naruto with his head tilted back, staring up at the stars.

"The stars…" Asuma blinked. "They're beautiful aren't they?" Asuma blinked again, this time in astonishment. He may have only known Naruto for a year, but he had never heard him utter such… such pointless words.

"Huh?" The lit cigarette dropped out of Asuma's gaping mouth.

Naruto turned to him and took his passport. "It's funny how you don't notice the little things in life until it's too late." He continued monotonously. "Good-bye Asuma."

Said jounin blinked as his former student turned around. "Hey kid." Naruto stopped to show that he was listening. "This wouldn't have to do with the Hyuuga incident would it?"

"Perhaps." Asuma fished around in his vest and pulled out his pack of cigarettes. Pulling one out, he put it in his mouth.

"You got a light kid?" Naruto turned around and put his hand under the cigarette. Snapping his fingers, a small flame burst into life from the contact between his thumb and forefinger. Asuma took a few drags from the burning cigarette. Smoke curled up and away from the cigarette. Taking another drag, he handed out his pack of to Naruto. "Here kid, take it."

Naruto blinked in surprise under his mask. Asuma had offered to give away his cigarettes? Was the sky raining fire? "I don't smoke Asuma."

Asuma considered the boy for a moment. "There comes a time in everyone's life, where all they need is a smoke. You'll know when that time comes." Naruto hesitated for a moment before he put his hand out and plucked out a single cigarette. Tucking away the lonely cigarette into one of his many vest pockets, he nodded his thanks at his former teacher. Turning around, he raced off towards the mountains that loomed in the distant horizon.

Asuma stared at Naruto's retreating form. He continued staring long after Naruto had vanished. Then, he tilted his head up and stared at the sky. Taking another drag from his dying cigarette, he dropped it on the ground and put it out by grinding it under his heel. "Yeah, the stars are beautiful."

**AN: Cliffy. I am way too tired to continue, so I decided to end chapter two with Naruto headed out on a Kamikaze mission. Mission impossible continues in chapter three. Review please!**


	4. Mission impossible

**AN: Chapter 3 is here! Most unfortunately, if I do not update by Sunday, then I will not be updating until after Wednesday. This is because I will be on vacation, but I will be spending those three days writing! Enjoy. And as always, please review if possible.**

**Note: **Kyuubi "**Speaking" 'Thinking'**

The great gates of the lightning village creaked slowly open, and the six men and two women walked through hoisting a dead body between them, heads held up proudly. A thunder clap of applause and cheering greeted the returning heroes and heroines. The deafening scream of the exuberant villagers brought a smile to even the hardest shinobi's lips, for today, the lightning village would at last have the secrets of the Hyuuga clan!

Unbeknownst to the cheering crowd of citizens and shinobi, there sat a shadow not so far away from the gates, taking in the sight of the excited horde serenely. 'It seems I have arrived too late.'

Naruto narrowed his eyes behind his mask as the unmistakable form of the Raikage appeared to congratulate the retrieval team, causing even greater cheering amongst the gathered villagers. **"I say you jump in there in a surprise ambush, Katon the shit out of the Hyuuga's body, then run like hell!" **The blonde stifled a snort at his invisible companion's suggestion.

'Even if I were stupid enough to jump into a crowd of shinobi, with the Raikage present I might add, there is no guarantee that any katon jutsu would completely eliminate a body beyond recovery.' Naruto stood up and braced himself against the tree he had hid himself in as the gates slowly slammed shut.

"**So what are you going to do?**" sneered the fox. **"Sneak in past an entire village of shinobi, break into the facility housing what's his face's body, destroy it, then sneak all the way back out?"**

'…'

"…**kit, you do realize I was kidding right?" **The demon's eyes widened in comical disbelief when he realized his host was actually planning to carry out his sarcastic suggestion. '**Me and my big mouth.' "Kit! Infiltrating a village of that size can take months, even years of planning!"**

Naruto dropped silently to the forest floor nearly thirty feet away from his perch. **'**We have at most one night before they dissect Himura-san's body.'

The colossal beast gaped dumbly in his cage. "**You don't even have backup!!"**

Naruto remained unfazed. **'**I have always worked alone'

"**This is suicide." **

'I know.' Naruto sat down and began pulling out all of his weapons and placed them on the dusty ground. The great fox sighed as he watched his host examine and clean his formidable arsenal of weapon.

"**50 shurikens, 25 kunais, 3 windmill shurikens, 100 senbon needles, your sister's dagger, and a single katana." **The caged demon snorted in contempt. "**You can totally take on that village now." **

Naruto ignored the demon and continued sharpening his weapons. 'Are you scared Kyuubi?'

A growl loud enough to shake the sewer like structure of his mind echoed in his head at his unintended taunt. **"I am the greatest demon to have ever lived! I once single handily brought your village to its knees!! I am Kyuubi no kitsune!" **A great silence formed as the Kyuubi calmed down. Another sigh escaped the demons lips. **"But yes, I am afraid." **Naruto nearly cut his finger off at his companion's confession. "**Only because I rely on you for my survival!" **The blonde rolled his eyes and continued his maintenance of his weapons.

Finishing his examination of his weapons, Naruto placed them all back into there correct hiding places. Rearing his fist back, he gathered chakra into his hand before slamming it viciously into the ground. Taking out a small water bottle from his travel pack, he plunged his hands back into the pack once more to pull out a small sac of rice balls. Dropping the now empty travel pack into the small crater, Naruto sat down on a nearby rock and gulped down six rice balls after removing his mask. Washing down the stale rice with the water, he placed the bottle and the sac into the crater as well. Using his hands, he quickly used the nearby dirt to cover up his existence.

He then headed deeper into the forest, searching for a hiding spot. Spying a tree base with a giant knot hole, he moved silently towards it, making sure to leave no noticeable tracks behind. After making sure the hole had no other inhabitants, he settled down and closed his eyes, resting his back against the wall, and his left hand on the hilt of his katana. 'Wake me when the sun sets.'

A lonely guard patrolled the eastern wall, staring mournfully down at the partying village. It was nearly midnight, and still the wild laughter had yet to die out. In fact, it seemed to become even more out of control then before. "Man this sucks. Why the hell am I stuck on guard duty while everyone else is off having fun?" The single guard was an average looking man with a face that would have blended into any crowd. His hair was a short brown with a dash of silver in the back, and he wore the lightning headband on his right bicep.

Snorting heatedly, he kicked a stray rock off the side of the wall. "I mean, who's dumb enough to sneak into a village of shinobis?" A silent swoosh caused the irritated man to swivel about and squint into the darkness. "Who's there?" The man's body tensed up in paralyzed shock when a hand jabbed a nerve point in his back. A silent gurgle was wrenched from his lips as he felt himself being lowered to the ground. Staring up in motionless shock at his assailant, he felt like kicking himself for being taken down by a runt. The kid was pretty short, with waist length blonde hair and a creepy expressionless mask adorned with an X shaped slash mark. The man tried to call out again, but only a desperate whimper escaped his sealed lips.

The kid made a crossed shape hand seal and a second version of him appeared. The frozen man watched in fascinated horror as the clone henged into an exact replica of himself. His imposter nodded at his attacker, and the short boy leapt off the side of the wall and into the village after making sure nobody was watching. The man struggled feebly as his copy picked him up casually. The emotionless voice whispering softly in his ear sent a chill down his spine. "I'm dumb enough to infiltrate your village." They wouldn't find his body for days.

The happy villagers were celebrating at their victory over their eternal enemy village Konoha. They had been at it for nearly ten hours, and the merry-making did not seem to be coming to an end anytime soon. Most of them were quite drunk, and many would wake up next to some rather dissatisfying bedmates. Even the shinobi were relaxed; too relaxed to notice a stray dog wandering through their village. The children ran up to pet it, giggling laughing even though they did not understand why everyone was celebrating, but glad they didn't have to sleep yet. The dog would wag its tail happily at the attention, but the minute any shinobi tried to take a closer look at it, it would have vanished. Nobody noticed the dog that appeared to stop and listen in on their conversations. Or the way it smiled when it overheard the location of their war spoil.

The lonely stray wandered closer and closer towards the village's hospital. It wandered down a dark alleyway behind the hospital, but never came back out. Instead, a dark shadowy figure slinked away into the hospital through an open window. Inside, Naruto breathed a sigh of relief when the room appeared to be empty. But a soft groan alerted him to the presence of a patient who had awoken due to the draft caused by the open window. The hunter-nin closed the window noiselessly and turned his attention to the shocked man before him. Apparently, the man had his tongue cut out, for he could not speak properly, and judging from the slash marks across his throat; his vocal cords had been damaged beyond repair as well. Which probably explained why he wasn't screaming his lungs out yet at the appearance of a foreign ninja in his room.

The man reached urgently for the assistant button resting on the night stand next to his bed, but Naruto was faster. He darted across the room and snatched the alarm button away from the struggling patient. A plan formed in his mind as he stared at the device in hand.

**"You'll go to hell for this."**

'This and everything else I have done.'

More then likely, most of the hospital staff were out celebrating with the rest of the village, leaving only a few nurses and doctors to maintain the patients. If there were to be an emergency, it would make it much easier for Naruto to sneak around. His left hand glowed green as he placed it on the patient's chest, right over his heart. The mute man's eyes bulged out in shock as his heart began to beat erratically. Naruto watched coldly as his victim suffered a chakra induced heart attack. Pressing the nurse assistant button coolly, he handed it over to the dieing patient. He slid into the shadow of the doorway as he detected footsteps headed for the room.

"Buki, is something the matter?" The voice was female, and Naruto carefully slid out a kunai as the door opened and hid him from view. The nurse let out a scream when she saw her convulsing patient. Rushing over, she began an analysis of the quivering man's body. Doctors rushed into the room at the nurse's cry of distress, and began trying to stabilize the flailing man. The nurse backed up and watched in horror as the man's body, wracked with pain, began to take on a seizure like frenzy. Blood oozed out of his nostrils, eyes, mouth, and even ears. Noticing the way the man was gazing at the open door, the shaken nurse took a quick glance at it. There was nothing there. 'How odd.'

'They really need better security around here.' Naruto moved quickly throughout the mazelike whiteness that made up the hospital. Following the signs with arrows, he soon found himself in front of the morgue. Resting the side of his face next to the door, Naruto sent a surge of chakra towards his ear. The soft rhythmic beating of a heart accompanied by the silent movements of a diaphragm met his enhanced hearing, as clear as if he had been using a stethoscope on the person. 'Only one.'

Pulling out a single senbon, Naruto twirled it casually between his nimble fingers as he gently eased the door open. A lone doctor entered his line of vision, hunched over the unmistakable body of Himura Hyuuga. Even dead, the Hyuuga managed to have a supercilious expression of superiority on his frowning face. Raising his free hand, Naruto knocked on the door once.

The doctor did not turn to face him, but continued whatever she was doing. "I told you not to disturb me while I'm preserving his body. It's a delicate procedure."

'So that's what she's up to.' "There's no need for that doctor."

The woman turned around irritably, fully prepared to berate the fool interrupting her, but instead found a senbon lodged in her jugular. The doctor gurgled quietly, as she clutched her bleeding throat. Staring at her crimson hands in disbelief, she tried to say something to the blonde standing at the doorway. No sound came out. Her attacker flickered from view, and she suddenly found a katana sprouting out of her abdomen. 'I think he pierced my stomach,' she thought detachedly. Her hands groped desperately at the gaping hole as the blade was withdrawn. Falling to her knees, she stared up at her slayer. Mouthing silent unheard words, the woman fell over, never to speak again.

Naruto stared down impassively at the doctor he had just killed. 'You were at the wrong place at the wrong time.' Picking up the still warm body, he slung it over his shoulder and stumbled over to the body banks. Sliding open one of the frozen coffins, he dropped the body in carelessly. He considered the woman's shocked expression for a long moment before shutting the steel crate. Returning to the Hyuuga's body, he picked up the scalpel the women had left on a tray, and went through the gruesome motions necessary for decapitating a body. After accomplishing the bloody job, Naruto placed the head on the table before moving the headless body onto the floor. The neck region leaked out blood onto a small miniature lake of red on the sterilized floor as he bit his thumb hard enough to draw blood. Ignoring the pool of crimson fluids building up next to his feet, he went threw the familiar motions necessary for summoning.

A pair of huge foxes materialized silently, without the customary flash of smoke. The duo looked exactly alike, brownish gray fur, grim smiles, and even identical scars across their faces. "Lynx, Bynx, take care of this mess. Leave no traces." As the leering foxes advanced on the bleeding corpse, the masked boy glared sternly at them through his mask. "And quietly," he hissed softly.

Wiping his stained hands on a nearby clothe, the hunter-nin removed a small scroll from his supply pouch. The scroll was thin, and only about 4 inches long, but was surprisingly large when unraveled. Placing the head of Himura on the scroll, Naruto utilized the remaining blood from his thumb to seal the head into the roll of paper. Rolling it back up, Naruto removed his mask. Tilting his head back so that his jaw was aligned with his throat, he shoved half the scroll into his mouth. Ignoring his gag reflex, he continued pushing until the small scroll was entirely in his throat.

His esophagus flexed over and over, working the small scroll further and further towards his stomach. Gasping for air, the blonde ignored his discomfort and instead concentrated on gathering chakra towards the opening of his stomach in order to halt the passage of the scroll. Taking another deep breathe, he replaced his mask, and turned around to inspect the foxes. The pair had already disappeared, but there was no trace of blood, not even that of the woman's he had killed earlier. It was as if nothing had ever been there.

Nodding to himself in satisfaction, the emotionally stunted boy headed for the exit. Sixth sense prickling, the blonde threw himself away from the door, just in time to avoid the hail of shurikens that came through. Rolling to his feet while pulling out a kunai, Naruto found himself facing three very angry looking shinobi.

"Get him!" snapped the woman in the middle who appeared to be the leader. The man on the left reached into his shuriken pouch for more projectiles while the one on the right leapt forward, slashing at Naruto with a kunai. Dancing around the charging man, Naruto sidestepped into his defense, and dug the kunai into the man's ribs. The nameless man grunted in pain, then shock when he felt himself being hoisted up by his much smaller opponent.

Only after feeling eight shurikens dig into his spine and back did he realize he was being used as a meat shield. The thrower froze up in shock at having hurt his own teammate, but the leader ignored it and unleashed shots of crackling lightning from her hand. Ducking and weaving between the bolts of lethal electricity, the blonde closed in on his adversary. Engaging the more dangerous of the two in taijutsu, he punched and kicked at an alarming speed that the woman had no chance of blocking. A short leap and a slash with the kunai left the leader on the ground clutching her bleeding throat.

The final man snapped out of his shock and rushed forward with a cry of animalistic rage. A foolish mistake on his part. Slipping behind his charging opponent, the blonde grabbed the man's shoulder and kicked the joint behind the man's left knee. Crying out in pain, the raging man's left leg collapsed under him. Naruto took the chance to slip his kunai into the foolhardy man's back and severing his spine. The man dropped face first onto the ground and lay there twitching silently.

"**Not good kit. It seems you were detected. Time to forget about stealth and get the hell out of here!" **Naruto nodded in agreement and rushed towards the open doorway.

"**Duck!"**

The wall on the left exploded and showered the room in dust and debris. Rolling away from his escape route to avoid being flattened by a slab of cement, Naruto rose to a crouch and squinted through the settling dust. A lone figure could be seen standing behind the screen of dust. As the dirt cleared, it revealed to the tense boy his attacker. It was the Raikage. And he was surrounded by a mob of very unhappy looking shinobi.

"**We are so fucked." **

**AN: Well there's chapter three, another cliffy! Hope you like it. Review please, and feel free to point out any mistakes i made.**


	5. the shit has hit the fan

**An: I'm back, and so is hunter-X. Here's chapter 4, longest chapter yet. Read and review. Point out any mistakes I may have made and I'll correct them as soon as possible.**

The man's skin was a dark shade of brown, tanned like hide left in the sun. Even under the ceremonial robes, Naruto could see the man's rippling muscles. His face was that of a gentle soul, a sleeping dragon no doubt. His black hair was braided into hundreds of strands, and at the end of each braid hung a small delicate silver bell that chimed and ringed in the breeze. What was most curious about the man was the silver blindfold he wore over his eyes.

'So this is the infamous blind kage.'

"**Looks like a wuss to me." **Naruto shifted his feet so that he was in a more defensive stance, and gripped his kunai tighter. In the silence that followed, not a single noise could be heard, not even from the restless crowd of angry shinobi behind the Raikage. Then, a clap. The foreign sound interfering with the silence came from the Raikage, the echoing clapping of his palms making the stillness even more eerie and uncomfortable

"Well done Naruto-kun, or should I call you hunter-X? After all, that is your nickname."

The man's voice held amusement, yet also a touch of coldness rivaling that of arctic snow. Naruto raised an eyebrow underneath his mask as he watched the man's underlings shift uncomfortably.

"You know my name; it is only common courtesy to give me yours." The man continued smiling as he listened to the boy's droning voice.

"I suppose I should shouldn't I?" He bowed mockingly towards the blonde. "My name is Kaji Katsuragi." He straightened back up. "Kage of the lightning village, pleased to meet you." Naruto stayed where he was.

"How did you find me?" The Raikage nodded is head at the question.

"Well, under normal circumstances, with your stealth, and the villages lax in security," here, he stopped to scowl slightly before smiling again, "you would have gotten away with destroying the Hyuuga's body. Most unfortunate for you, I reside in this village."

Naruto continued staring at his adversary from his defensive position.

"As you know, I was born blind." the Raikage continued. "Without sight, one may wonder how I became a shinobi, let alone Kage." The man stopped for a moment to bask in his own glory. "Well you see, not being able to see has sharpened my ability towards sensing chakra. Anyone can sense chakra at the jounin level or above, but very few are capable of distinguishing low chakra levels. I couldn't help but notice how a certain stray had a bit too much chakra output." The blind man smiled again. "I figured it was someone under henge. Very few would have the guts necessary to sneak into an enemy village without planning, especially from a village with such a caring Hokage." His smile had turned into a sneer.

Naruto stood up and kept a firm grip on his blade. "And why did you not stop me?" The Raikage gave a chilling laugh that seemed to lower the room's temperature.

"Truth be told, I don't really give a crap about the Hyuuga's." His upper lip curled into another sneer. "Those breathing fossils are still living in a past where the Hyuuga's power ruled. But I, I like to think myself a man of the future." Kaji smiled and jabbed his finger at the young hunter-nin before him. "And you my friend represent the future."

Naruto felt a shiver run down his spine and frowned uneasily. **"Homo alert. Wait I take that back. Homo pedophile alert."**

"You are everything that represents the future power of the hidden villages! Blood limits are a thing of the past! Now, the village with the most powerful demon vessel will rule! Your power is already famous in the shinobi line of work. You hunted down fugitives like dogs at the age of eight when most those whelps were still clinging to their mother's skirts. And now twelve, you hold a reputation rivaling that of the most powerful ninjas in the world." The blind Raikage seemed to gaze sightlessly at the blonde. "Join me Naruto, leave behind the village that scorns you so, and together let us build a better world; a world with no discrimination or prejudice!" Here, the man seemed to give a truly insane smile. "You would like that wouldn't you?"

Naruto stood stock still, staring at the man who offered to give him the chance to make a difference. A chance to change the world so that people like him will never exist again. "Yes I would like that." The kunai flew straight at the Raikage's exposed face, but the man sidestepped casually. Some unknown shinobi in the background gave a yell of pain as the crowd burst into angry chatter. "But I have to decline your generous offer." Naruto's voice dropped ten degrees. "I make it a rule not to work with others if possible, especially the crazy ones."

"**What about that sister of yours? I wouldn't call her sane"**

'Kyuubi, do me a favor and shut up.' The demon silenced itself.

Kaji shook his head slowly with a sad expression on his face. "We would have made a good team you know." Grabbing his robes with his left hand, he tugged on it, yanking it off to reveal shiny chrome steel plate body armor underneath. The armor had three glowing circles in the front and the back, and a number of other symbols carved delicately into the tough material. The Raikage allowed the ghostly robes to float out of his hands and onto the ground.

The crowd's bloodlust jumped a few notches as the Raikage faced the blonde. "For disturbing the peace of my village, you are to be executed." A blur of movement, and Naruto found a knee buried in his chest. Flying backwards, the blonde flipped himself in midair, rebounded off the wall he was headed towards, and lunged at the Raikage with his right fist cocked back.

Feeling his punch go through an afterimage, the blonde landed and pivoted on his landing foot while lashing out with his other leg, only to feel it being caught in the iron grip of the Raikage. "Too slow boy."

A kick to the chin sent him flying headfirst through the wall and into the street full of shinobi. A great cry sounded through the crowd as many drew their blades. "Stop." A silence fell through the street and the only sound that could be heard was Naruto coughing as he struggled to his feet. "I will personally kill him myself," declared the Raikage. "Nobody interferes." A murmur of unrest swept through the crowd, but was silenced when the Raikage faced them. "Do you defy me?" The calm expression betrayed a torrent of anger and a promise of pain. The streets emptied as the shinobi leapt for the building tops to watch the upcoming battle.

By this time, the hunter-nin had managed to stand up once more and was now facing the Raikage. The man smiled again before making twelve hand seals. "Lightning style: static fist!" Energy surged throughout the Raikage's body before ending up in his hands. The electricity jumped and danced about at random intervals. "Now you die, boy!"

Dashing forward at an incredibly fast rate, the man lashed out with his right hand. Naruto blocked, but winced as his blocking arm went numb due to the contact with the Raikage's charged fist. Kaji swung with his left, but this time Naruto leapt back to avoid contact. The Raikage disappeared, and reappeared behind the boy, delivering a shocking blow to his back. The blonde's entire body jerked at the contact as his eyes widened a fraction underneath his mask. A kick sent him down to kiss pavement. Blow after blow of static enhanced punches rained down on the boy's exposed back as he lay there gritting his teeth in pain.

After finishing the beating, the Raikage stepped away from the crater that housed the unmoving Naruto's body. He raised his fist in victory as the shinobi in the surrounding buildings cheered their leader. "This is what happens," Kaji spat, "to those who stand in our village's way!" A great roar of approval met his boisterous statement. "Konoha and all of the elemental nations will crumble before out might!" The blind man turned around in confusion when he received no cheers or applause. Turning his senses towards the crater, he was astonished to discover there had been no drop in the boy's chakra levels.

The lightning shinobis watched in shock as Naruto stood up and dusted himself off. The back of his vest was ripped up, and a bit of blood stained his long golden locks. Yet no real injury could be seen on his body. 'Kyuubi.'

"**About time you stopped playing around." **The blonde clenched his hands together and gritted his teeth as he felt a rush of foreign power enter his body. He bent over slightly as he began summoning his chakra. A rush of blue mingled in red gushed from his body, destroying the ground around him. Kaji raised his arms to cover his face as dust blown away by the Naruto's chakra blew in all directions.

'Incredible.' He thought. 'His raw power rivals my own!' The man's body tensed as he felt his opponent's chakra spike behind the screen of dust and dirt.

"Forbidden art: Unchaining the demon." Even through the clouds of dust, the Raikage's chakra senses could make out translucent chains of chakra appearing around the blonde's body. The thick coils were wrapped around his wrist, ankles, and neck. All of the sudden, the transparent chains snapped and broke into hundreds of pieces before vanishing from sight. Naruto stared at the tense form of Kaji as the dust settled around them. "This is where the real fight begins."

There was no indication of movement, no hint of his speed. One second he was there, the next, he had his fist in the Raikage's armored abdomen. The man flew backwards nearly thirty feet before being halted by a building in his path. Naruto took the chance to form the hand seals necessary for his fire jutsu. 'Fire spell: Dragon Blast!' A geyser of flames erupted from where his mouth should have been, and took on the form of an enormous dragon, covering the last seen location the Raikage.

The watching ninja's gasped, stunned at the sheer level of destruction the twelve year old was capable off. The crumbling building was now a smoldering blackened pile of ruins. There was no sign of movement among the burned remains of the building.

A crack appeared between the blond hunter-nin's feet, and a fist burst out aimed straight for his chin. Naruto jumped up and tilted his head back slightly, and was grazed lightly from the Raikage's underground sneak attack. Both fighters landed and stood up to observe the other.

The blindfolded Raikage tapped his dirty chin in thought. "That was a very interesting technique. After you did your little demon release spell, your speed and strength both nearly tripled." He let out a small chuckle. "Fu, fu, fu, this is getting interesting."

Without warning, both combatants burst into a string of hand seals, racing to finish before his opponent. They both finished at the same time and released their spells, hoping to overpower the other.

"Earth spell: Moving Earth River!"

"Lightning spell: Static Dragon!"

A river of mud gushed at the Raikage even as a huge electrical dragon discharged from the man's hands. Kaji sunk up to his shoulder in the mud as the crackling dragon reached his target. Naruto put both his hands up, and a great vortex of wind materialized in front of him, dissipating the giant electrical dragon. "Wind trumps lightning every time."

Kaji struggled to get himself out of the now solid mud, but not before Naruto managed to get off a set of hand seals. "Earth spell: Moving Tectonic Plates!" Slamming both hands into the ground, a miniature earthquake formed as the Raikage screamed in pain due to the ground smashing into his trapped body. A puff of smoke and a log was all Naruto managed to kill. 'Kawrimi!'

"**Behind!" **roared the demon.

Dozens of shurikens accompanied by a shout of, "Ninja art: Shadow Shurikens!" grazed into the blonde as he jumped out of their path. Naruto winced as he felt his shredded skin trying to stitch itself back together. Not a pretty sight.

The Raikage tossed his head back and laughed as he clapped his hands together in delight. "Your reputation does you no justice Naruto-kun! This is the most fun I've had in a good long time." The blind man's smile morphed into a grim expression. "But all good things must come to an end." He bit his thumb and swiped the blood across the front of his armor.

Excited muttering swept through the watching shinobi. Whispers reached Naruto's sensitive ears.

"He's going to use it!"

"This is going to be good."

"That kids toast!"

"**I don't like the sounds of this" **rumbled the Kyuubi in his mind.

'Agreed.' The Raikages's armor shined like the sun, and a lightning bolt dropped out of nowhere striking the Raikage dead on. Naruto winced at the sound, and shut his eyes against the blinding glare. When he finally reopened them, the Raikage had a humming war hammer in his hands.

"Meet your executioner Naruto. Her name is Silence. And when she's done with you that will be all that remains!" The hammer glowed as if in response to the Raikage's statement. Kaji leapt up in the air and swung the vibrating hammer at Naruto before the blonde could even react.

The hammer missed by inches, but the resulting shockwave after it struck the ground sent the deafened Naruto flying backwards completely stunned and disoriented. A vicious kick interrupted his flight backwards, and a nearby building collapsed due to the backlash wave the hammer had caused. Lightning shinobi scattered knowing that anyone who got in the way would be cut down along with the blonde.

Naruto landed on the ground and rolled twice before slamming into a stature of the first Raikage. He groaned and tried to get to his feet only to have a foot send him back down into the ground.

"That's the difference between a boy and a man. Good-bye Naruto-kun." Kaji raised the glowing war hammer above his head. The hunter-nin under his foot turned his head so that he faced the Raikage.

"Good-bye." He exploded, sending the shocked Raikage stumbling backwards. From above the head of the first Raikage, the real Naruto dropped down and slammed his chakra enhanced fist into the blind man's face. The pain caused him to drop his hammer as he skidded into the ground from the force of the blow. Quickly reorienting himself, Kaji rolled to his feet.

"Here's your hammer." A bone crunching blow from his own hammer cracked his chest plate armor as he was sent flying backwards from the combination of the blow and shockwave. Rolling gingerly onto his feet, the man stumbled off the tree that had halted his flight.

"Impossible! How could you lift it? The gravity field can only be counteracted by the electrical charge on my armor! It weighs nearly a ton under the gravity field!!" The demon host gave the hammer an experimental swing.

"Doesn't seem that heavy to me. The demon chakra must nullify the gravitational field as well." Dropping the war hammer onto the ground with an earth shattering bang, the blonde kicked it over to the Raikage. "Here, you can have it back."

"What?" The blonde snorted under his mask.

"It is of no use to me. That weapon is obsolete." The blind man picked his war hammer and let out a snarl of rage.

"Obsolete?! I'll show you obsolete you little ingrate!!" Raising it over his shoulder, the Raikage charged towards the unmoving Naruto screaming nonsense at him. The blonde raised his right hand in front of him as the rushing man closed in.

"Like I said," Kaji swung his hammer and the head fell off as it passed over the blonde's outstretched hand. "Obsolete." A hissing sound swept over the two stock-still combatants as a great wind blew and surrounded the blond hunter-nin. "Just like you." The wind condensed, and a visible sword composed of wind appeared in Naruto's extended hand.

Thrusting it forward, he managed to slice into the Raikage's armor and a few inches into his flesh before the man jumped backwards. Kaji clutched at his wounded left shoulder and tried to move his arm. It twitched, but didn't give any other noticeable reaction. The braided man gritted his teeth into a menacing smile. "Fu, fu, very good, a wind sword. You are full of surprises aren't you?"

The blonde spread his feet out into an offensive sword stance, and gripped the shifting blade with both hands. "Ninja Art: Flying Tiles!" At Naruto's command, hundreds of nearby tiles leapt off the roofs and flew towards the armored man like shurikens. Kaji ducked and dodged, moving all over the place, wincing each time a ceramic tile made contact and imbedded the sharp shards into exposed flesh.

He cursed as he felt something slash through his armor and bite into his exposed back. Ignoring the warm, blood running down the wound on his back, the Raikage spun about in a 180 kick, catching Naruto on the shoulder. Stumbling back, the hunter-nin caught his footing only to have a fist connect with his chin in a picture perfect uppercut.

The ghoulish mask was ripped from the blonde's face, and for the first time, the surrounding shinobi could see his true face. Crystal blue eyes flashed dangerously as the blonde stood up, wind sword still in hand. Adorned across his right cheek was a scaled down version of his trademark X shaped scar that was a vivid red. The boy's skin was a delicate white due to lack of exposure to the sun. His mouth lifted into a small smile that sent shivers through all who could see it. Handsome women would call him, but equally dangerous as well if not more so.

"It's been a long time since anyone has managed to forcefully remove my mask."

"**You were what, 9? And wasn't it Anko?" **

'Yeah it was.' The unmasked blonde brought the wind sword up into an attack position.

"You will not live to tell it." The Raikage had enough time to twitch before the blonde was rushing towards him.

"Dance of the crescent moon!" A gust of wind blew behind the charging blonde, and he split into four different individuals. The one in the center continued charging while one went left, and another right. The final Naruto leapt into the air, and now dropped down towards his target blade first.

Kaji lashed out twice and managed to destroy the clones to his left and right while dodging the one charging head on. He missed the one in the air. A scream of agony ripped through the quite village night as the wind sword removed the Raikage's useless left arm. For a second, it seemed to be an illusion. The clone disappeared after doing its job, and gouts of blood sprayed out of the blind man's missing arm socket.

His wails died down as he gritted his teeth and made a few half seals with his remaining hand. Right hand burning with flames, Kaji slammed it into his bleeding shoulder, incinerating the flesh and forcibly stopping the bleeding. All throughout this, the Naruto stood calmly watching impassively.

"You have lost Katsuragi-san. Now let me leave, or forfeit you life."

The agonized expression on Kaji's face shifted into pained amusement as he pulled his burning hand from his smoking armless shoulder. "Lost?!!" There was a hind of madness in his voice. "We haven't even started fighting!!" The blonde's expression did not change as he listened to the blind man's rant.

Electricity built around the Raikage and began to solidify around his right hand. "Don't be a fool. Wind trumps lightning." Naruto raised his wind sword as if to prove his point.

"You think so?!" demanded Kaji. A blade of lightning formed and straightened in his remaining hand. "I am the Raikage! One of the five strongest shinobi in the world!! I will not lose to some wet behind the ears whelp!!" The man charged forward, blade held point first.

Naruto stood his ground and stared at the rushing man. The crackling blade came closer and closer, yet still the blonde did not move. The blindfolded man let out a howl of victory as he closed in. His mouth twisted into an insane smile. "You're mine!" He thrust the lightning blade forward, aimed straight at the hunter-nin's heart.

Naruto shifted at the last moment, allowing the blade to graze his chest slightly as it went by. The blind man slammed into the wind sword the blonde held in his hands. Unable to stop himself, his momentum carried his body straight through the blade up to the hilt. The Raikage gaped in astonishment at the wind sword growing out of his abdomen. He coughed and spat out a bit of blood as Naruto twisted the blade in the dying man's intestines.

"**Game over. Pedophile: 0 Emotionally Damaged Child: 1"**

With blood dripping down his lips, the Kaji gave his detestable little smile. "An eye for an eye" he gasped out with his dying breath.

The Raikage jammed his faltering lightning sword into Naruto's left shoulder. Naruto let out a yell of pain as the dying electricity shot through his arm, tearing muscle and cracking bones. The wind blade dissipated as soon as the blonde lost concentration and the Raikage fell, face forward motionless.

The young hunter-nin gritted his teeth as the electrical charge died down in his left arm. 'Kyuubi.'

"**I'm trying kit, I'm trying." **There was a tinge of worry in the demon's voice.

Naruto grinded his teeth together as hundreds of shinobi leapt down from nearby buildings and encircled him.He was surrounded. His left arm was torn to shreds, and dangled uselessly by his side. Multiple cuts crisscrossed his body, making bloody railroad tracks. His shirt was shredded to pieces, and part of his vest was missing. His mask was no longer in place; blood trickled down from his forehead, blinding him in his left eye. Naruto squinted out at his opponent with his good eye. A sea of blades and angry faces greeted him, but what was most prominent, was the fear. No matter how angry they looked, they all had a bit of awe and fear splashed onto their faces.

"So this is how it ends." The young shinobi snorted. He used his good hand to reach into one of the remaining vest pockets on his body. The movement caused many of the assembled shinobi to shift nervously, wondering what the boy was about to do. Many nearly dropped their weapons when he pulled out a lone cigarette. They stared in shock as Naruto put the cigarette in his mouth, and snapped his fingers, causing a small flame to erupt at the tips of his fingers. Putting the flame at the end of the cigarette, Naruto took a puff, and allowed the flames on his fingers to die out. Taking another deep drag, Naruto breathed out, allowing the smoke to rise from his mouth. He took a third drag, and allowed his conscience to fall into the deep chasm of his mind where he floated before the cage of Kyuubi.

"Give me more power." The great fox snorted as he rolled over in his cage.

"**I have already leant you one tails worth of chakra. Anymore, and the consequences would be dire." **Naruto smiled lightly as he looked up at the huge beast.

"It doesn't matter anymore. We'll die either way." The great brute of a demon rested his head on a great paw and stared at the boy before him.

"**Kit, you know that I cannot give you more power then that of which your body can generate. Anymore, and your body may collapse, or you may just explode from chakra overload." **The fox leaned in closer and peered down at the stoic boy before him. "**Your power already rivals that of the two tailed demon Heero, and you have already defeated that annoying Raikage. Anymore and-"**

The gigantic fox quieted down as he saw his host raise his hand. "I know what could happen if I take in more power then necessary. It's a risk I'm willing to take." The demon stared thoughtfully down at his host.

"**So be it." **The Kyuubi's eyes glowed red for a moment, and then a stream of red chakra seeped out of the cage and surrounded Naruto. The mass of power swept up his body, covering every part of him it came into contact with, until at last, it reached his head. The demonic chakra covered his face until only his eyes were visible.

"**Fare thee well Kit, fare thee well." **The chakra oozed into his line of vision, and a great rage filled his normally emotionless core. The rage spread quickly, taking over his mind, his control. It ate away at his very being, until darkness claimed him, and he knew no more.

**An: Wanna find out what happens next? Too bad you'll have to wait, because I'm evil, and I like a good cliff hanger. **


	6. Chains and whips

**An: And here is the 5th chapter, a bit of history of X. Sorry for the long wait.**

**Dream/Flashback**

_The Hyuuga branch member laughed wildly as he stood surrounded in the middle of the dark street. Anbu and jounin ringed the man in a deformed circle, all on guard. Blood poured out of the man's nose, mouth, and even the corner of his eyes a sure sign of chakra overdose. Veins usually only appearing around the Hyuuga's eyes when their bloodline limit was activated, bulged out all across his body. Another warning sign of chakra overdose. This man was hopped up on more then one soldier pill. _

_An Anbu with a hawk mask dropped down in front of the slightly insane man. "Hyuuga Hitaro, you are charged with the murder of your infant son, six branch members, and 3 main house Hyuuga's. Surrender now and your sentencing will be more lenient." As hawk finished his words, a group of Hyuuga's led by Hiashi appeared. An elderly Hyuuga stepped forward and made a bird seal with his left hand while thrusting his gnarled right hand at Hitaro._

_Instead of screaming in agony at having his curse seal activated, the man laughed madly and charged forward towards the shocked man. Hitaro struck the elder twice and sent the man towards the ground where he received a kick to the ribs. The old Hyuuga skidded on the ground until he was stopped by Hiashi. The Hyuuga elder coughed up blood as he gasped in Hiashi's arms._

_Hitaro straightened out and laughed once more. "I am free!!" The branch member removed his leaf headband. The caged bird seal was present. So were a number of hastily drawn seals around it. The new seals were still wet, a reddish color that looked suspiciously like blood. _

"_My newborn son saw to it!!" the man dropped the headband onto the floor. "And now I will destroy the main branch and anyone who stands in my way!" No one moved at the insane branch members bold if slightly disillusioned statement. Most were horrified at what the man had done, but many also understood what had pushed him to take this road even if they did not agree with his methods._

_Another branch member stepped out from the mass of Hyuugas. "Brother, it does not have to be this way!" the woman exclaimed. _

_The psychotic man turned his pupil less eyes towards his sister. "Yes it does Yukira! They will never change! So I will change them!" _

_The woman stepped further forward and continued pleading with her insane brother. "Please stop this insanity Hitaro. There are other ways that does not involve bloodshed!" These words had a reverse effect on the man as he snarled and clenched his fist so hard that blood seeped out of his hand. _

"_I killed my son so that I could free us!!" Tears rolled down the man's eyes. "Are you saying he died for naught?! That I.. I.." the man chocked up. "THAT I KILLED HIM FOR NOTHING?!!" Everyone could hear the grievance in his voice. Hitaro's mouth curled into a snarl. "Even if there were other ways, it is too late. I will destroy the main branch, and then join my wife and son!"_

_Hitaro lunged forward with his left arm cocked back to strike his sister. A kunai flew out of the darkness and embedded itself inches away from the moving man's foot, causing him to whirl about to face his attacker._

"_Do you honestly think you will be going to where your son and wife are?" The voice was young and unbroken, still holding the softness of a child. _

_Naruto stepped out of the shadow in the branch where he had watched the drama unfold._

"_Somehow, I doubt you'll be welcome there." The masked ten-year old leapt from the branch onto the floor in front of the glaring Hitaro. A second figure landed next to the blonde, and stood up revealing herself to be Anko._

"_Alright, everybody back up! My little bro's about to open a can of whoop-ass!" She herself backed up with the curious crowd. Soft murmurs were heard as the group stood back to observe the match between the ten year old hunter-nin and the twenty-seven year old branch member of the Hyuuga clan._

"_By orders of the Hokage, you are to be terminated on site." The emotionless voice of the short blonde sounded robotic as he got into a basic fighting stance. Hitaro sneered as the veins near his eyes bulged out even further signaling the activation of the Byakugan. _

"_I'll eradicate you first demon!" He shot forward and slammed his palms into the blonde's chest. "2 palms" A flurry of strikes followed as he spun about jabbing the young boy faster and faster until his arms left blurred afterimages. "4 palms, 8 palms, 16 palms, 32 palms, 64 palms!!!"_

_A final devastating blow sent the ten year old crashing into the ground where he lay unmoving. The watching crowd stood looking on silently. "Don't even try to get up." Hitaro turned around to face the main branch family once more, but stopped when his Byakugan caught sight of the masked blonde standing up. _

_Hitaro slowly turned to face his rising foe and watched in surprise as the hunter-nin straightened up. The young boy moved his left arm experimentally while staring at it quizzically. (If a quiz is quizzical what's a test? Lol couldn't help myself) "How odd."_

_The crowds buzzed with whispers as they watched the blonde seemingly shrug off one of the Hyuuga clan's most devastating attacks. Hitaro snorted as he watched the blonde experiment with his body. "I'm impressed you stood up, but with all your major chakra points sealed off, you won't be able to summon any chakra at all. It's hopeless for you."_

"_Oh?" The short hunter-nin made a ram seal and tried to summon his chakra. Nothing happened. "It appears you are correct in your assumption." 'Kyuubi.'_

"_**Thought you'd never ask runt." **_

_The blonde made the ram seal again as Hitaro laughed. "There's no way-" he shut up as a burning red chakra exploded out of the blonde's body and surrounded the boy. After a few seconds the demonic chakra receded and the stunned shinobi watching picked their jaws up from the ground. _

"_You were saying?" There was no hint of mockery, or even concern in his voice as he faced Hitaro._

"_Wohoo! Go Naruto! Kick his ASS!!" The loud outburst from Anko got her a lot of incredulous stares. The young blonde ignored his adopted sister's antics and instead threw a kunai at his opponent. The blonde missed by nearly three inches. Blank eyes stared stupidly at Naruto._

"_What the hell was that?" he sneered at the motionless ten-year old. "Hunter-nin standards must have lowered since my days." Hitaro ducked as a dozen shurikens flew up from behind him. Where the kunai once was, there stood a shadow clone of Naruto still in the throwing position. _

_As Hitaro straightened up, the real Naruto launched himself forward at a blinding speed, driving his knee into the surprised man's stomach. Back flipping in midair, the masked hunter-nin snapped a kick to the man's jaw sending him towards the clone. The clone kicked the man viciously in the back before pivoting on his right foot and reverse kicked the Hyuuga back towards his real self. _

"_Fire spell: Grande Fireball!!" An enormous ball of flame three times larger then the blonde summoning it exploded out of his mask and enveloped the airborne Hitaro. The onlookers had to raise their hands and shield their faces from the intense heat caused by the fire spell. When the fireball died out, a whirling wall of chakra took its place. _

"_Kaiten!" A slightly beat up Hitaro came to a halt and faced the blonde once more. His lips pulled back into a leering grin, "Not bad kid. Not bad at all. Now it's my turn!" The Hyuuga charged forward, prepared to deliver devastating blows to the child in front of him. _

_Not a single strike landed as the blonde evaded each blow with fluid grace, ducking and dodging between each blow. As the frustrated man continued his futile assault, the dodging blonde made a cross shaped seal. "Ninja art: Shadow Clones." Scores of replicas appeared and hurled shurikens towards the surrounded fugitive._

"_Kaiten!" Hundreds of shurikens were deflected into the crowd of spectators, forcing them to scatter to a safer location. Throughout all this, Naruto watched impassively. As the spinning man came to a halt, Naruto spoke up "That's a very interesting technique." The breathless man glared at his opponent. "By sending a large amount of chakra from your tenketsu points, you create a solid field of chakra, and by rotating and swirling the chakra together, you get a sphere of protection that can block attacks from any direction."_

_The black clothed hunter-nin placed one hand forward, and one hand stretched behind him as he widened his stance. A surge of chakra encompassed his body as he began rotating. The crowd watched in awed shock as the boy replicated one of the Hyuuga's most jealously guarded techniques. The Hyuugas watched in anger as their most prized technique was stolen. A certain porn reading Cyclops watched in interest wondering if he could do the same._

_As the spinning boy came to a stop, the panting Hitaro rushed forward towards the slightly disoriented boy. A kunai thrown by a shadow clone stopped his advance, and gave the real Naruto enough time to recover. The original hunter-nin stood stock still staring at his opponent either asleep or in deep thought. Hitaro blinked in confusion and stared back. After a minute or so the irritated branch member cursed at the blonde, "What the hell are you doing? We're fighting here!" _

_Naruto cocked his head to the left before answering. "So there is a weakness in the Hyuuga's so called perfect defense." The slightly insane man stood confused as the short boy nodded to himself. "No technique is perfect, not even Kaiten." Naruto signaled with his hand and his clones threw their remaining projectiles towards the Hyuuga before disappearing in small pops. _

_The man once again began rotating to deflect the incoming blades. "It's useless, nothing can pierce Kaiten!" The blonde front flipped forward, and stopped his momentum when he was directly over the spinning man. Dropping headfirst towards the mass of rotating chakra, Naruto gathered chakra into his hands and rammed it into the top of the spinning Kaiten. For a moment, he balanced perfectly on top of the sphere, but slowly, his hands began to sink into the mass of chakra like a hot knife through butter. _

_The young blonde began to rotate in sync with the man below him as his hands inched closer and closer towards Hitaro. The surprised man tried to stop as he felt hands grabbing his head. As Hitaro slowed down, Naruto strengthened his grip and sent chakra out of his body and continued increasing the momentum of his spin. A crack accompanied by the sound of mangled flesh being twisted at impossible ways filled the dark night. A flash of chakra blinded the spectators. Even Kakashi put his book away long enough to see the outcome of this fight. The light died down and a headless body could be seen standing still. A fountain of blood erupted from the neck region, spraying the horrified onlooker closes to the fight. Screams and curses could be heard as people rushed to get out of the bloody rain. _

_An impassive blonde landed on his feet, still holding the head of the shocked looking Hitaro. "Tenketsu points exist all over the body except near the head and neck regions. Naturally, the top of the Kaiten would be the weakest because it does not have a direct source of chakra pushing outwards, but instead relies on the spinning motion to siphon chakra from the lower regions upwards." The ten year old dropped the head and walked towards the laughing Anko._

_The dark haired trench coat wearing beauty wrapped her arms around her shorter companion's neck and rubbed the top of her chin on her adopted brother's head. "Let's get something to eat kid! All that blood is making me hungry!" Naruto nodded wordlessly as he followed his bloodthirsty sister away._

**End Dream**

Naruto felt himself slowly regaining conscience, but decided to keep his eyes closed when he felt the chains holding his body up against a wall. **"Loved the final move on that faggot."**

'No doubt only because there was blood.' The great demon roared with laughter.

"**Don't think even I ever sprayed blood onto the spectators before. But then again, I prefer to eat my opponents." **

'Hmm.' Naruto extended his senses around the room he was trapped in. He was alone. Cracking one eye open, he discovered himself in some sort of dungeon, filled with chains hanging from the ceilings, and more then one restraint table. Naruto himself was chained to the wall furthest from the door and as he tugged on the thick manacles, he noticed the seals etched onto the bloodstained metal. 'Chakra restraints.'

"**I pronounce us now royally fucked." **The seals allowed for the internalization of chakra, but if he tried to enhance his strength in order to break free, the seal would absorb all the excess chakra. A ray of light blinded Naruto momentarily as the door opened. Blinking to adjust his eyes to the sudden brightness, he winced as one of the figures by the door switched on the rooms light, illuminating the dreary dungeon. "**I take back what I said earlier. Now we're fucked." **Naruto's reply was cut short as the two men came into view.

"**Well fuck me with a ten foot pole. This guy is either a big fan of Ibiki, or his long lost twin brother." **And indeed, the man on the left was so scarred, he bore great resemblance to the infamous Konoha interrogator. Around his bald head, he too wore his headband as a bandana. Instead of the black trench coat Ibiki favored, this man preferred a trench coat resembling Anko's light brown. He had intense brown eyes, and scars decorating his face, and mutilating his nose.

Naruto shifted his eyes to the other man. The Ibiki look-alike was not surprising in such a setting, but this man looked totally out of place. He was no doubt a doctor or scientist of some sort if his lab coat was any indication. His red hair was slicked back with too much hair gel, and a single greasy strand dangled over his left eye. A thick pair of lenses perched on his stubby nose, and he seemed to have a permanent smirk pressed onto his face.

Glasses spoke first. "Make him talk, but don't kill him. We still need him." With that said, he pushed his glasses up his nose with the palm of his hand before turning around to leave. The Ibiki imposter stared at the trapped blonde until he heard the door shut. Crossing the room with a few quick strides of his long legs, he stopped in front of the hunter-nin and continued staring for a good minute.

At last he spoke. "They say with one look in the eyes, an expert interrogator can tell if someone will speak or not." Silence met his proclamation. He sighed. "I know you won't tell us any information willingly, but I'll ask anyways. Will you cooperate with me?" Again, silence was the only answer to his question. "I've never tortured a child before." There was a note of hesitation in his voice. "And I'd rather not if I could avoid it."

When Naruto still refused to answer, the interrogator closed his eyes, and rubbed his scared face with a gloved hand. When he reopened his eyes, they had changed. Though still dark brown, they now held a certain cold determination to them. "We'll start small, with truth serums and drugs." He turned around and headed toward the side of the room. Opening a cupboard, he revealed a shelf filled with a mass of bottles, needles, and other harmful looking liquids. Pulling out a syringe, he filled it with urine colored fluid.

Squirting out a few drops to make sure the needle functioned properly, he nodded in satisfaction. He turned around a faced the silent blonde once more. "Last chance kid."

Silence was his only answer. Smiling grimly, the trench coat wearing man walked over and plunged the needle into Naruto's exposed arm.

**Dream/Flashback**

_His eyes snapped open and he rolled out of bed just in time to avoid the jab headed for his temple. His pillow was not so lucky. The chakra infused fingertips punched straight through the pillow and into the futon Naruto had been sleeping on. Dislodging her hand, his assassin took one step forward sending both her palms straight for his chest. Grabbing one of her hand while ducking, the ten year old managed to snap her left wrist, causing a sharp cry of pain from his assailant. _

_Twisting the arm about behind her body, he felt the shoulder joint dislocate as she groaned in agony. Grabbing the unsheathed wazashaki hanging off his bedroom wall, he slammed the short blade into the back of his assassin's head. The blade punched through and reappeared on the other side of her face where the mouth was, spraying his futon with a mist of blood. He dropped the still warm body carelessly onto the floor and removed the blade from the corpse. After wiping the bloody blade off and hanging it back on the wall, Naruto tore off the dead woman's mask. It was the Hyuuga that had tried to reason with Hitaro. "**His sister right?" **growled the Kyuubi. _

_The blonde nodded dismissively. 'Something like that.' _

**End Dream**

Naruto drifted in and out of consciousness, having dreams of his past. A cloudy mist seemed to have settled on his mind, and he could no longer discern reality from dream.

"How is he?"

"He hasn't talked yet. Not a word. I think it's time we use more conventional means."

"Give it another day."

"If he hasn't broken under 3 days, I doubt another day will do anything."

"Even so, give it one more day."

"You're getting soft." A hushed silence. "Will your conscience not allow you to torture a child?"

"Not if I can help it."

"Need I remind you, this so called child, killed our Raikage, and took out more then a fifth of our forces, leaving another additional half of them in critical condition?"

The two angry arguing voices faded away into the background as the blonde lost conscience once more.

**Dream/Flashback**

_Two Hyuuga's charged out of the front gates of the Hyuuga clan home. An alarm was sounding inside the dark grounds of the ancestral grounds of the Hyuuga. Naruto dropped the heavy corpse he was carrying as the two branch members closed in to engage him._

"_Kaiten!" A surge of chakra, and the blonde was spinning on his feet, sending both guards flying backwards and slamming into the partially open front gates. A crack marred the oak doors as the hunter-nin calmly picked up the woman's body. Walking over, he kicked the gate fully open and was greeted by a group of angry looking Hyuugas lead by an equally angry looking Hiashi._

"_What is the meaning of this Uzumaki?" growled out the Hyuuga head. The ten-year old dropped the corpse onto the ground, and a few branch members gasped as they recognized the dead woman._

"_If you wish to kill me Hyuuga-sama, you should send more then one assassin." _

_The man's nostrils flared as he glared at the blonde. "I assure you I did no such thing. If I wanted you dead, I would kill you myself." _

_The hunter-nin nodded as he continued observing the growing crowd of Hyuuga's. "I don't doubt your word, but would you be willing to vouch for your entire clan?" The Hyuuga head remained silent at the truth in the blonde's word. "Someone in your clan wishes me dead, and I will not leave until I find out whom."_

_Hiashi shook his head as a group of Anbu's arrived, landing silently on the walls protecting the Hyuuga home. "That woman was the sister of the man you killed earlier tonight. No doubt she was blinded by her grief and sought to gain vengeance for her brother. Her attack holds no connection with this clan."_

"_Is that so?" the blonde's voice was as cold as the arctic winds. He glared at Hiashi under his mask and unleashed his killing intent. While a few backed away from the prone _

_ten-year old, Hiashi stoutly stood his ground, glaring right back. A second figure landed next to Naruto. It was the third Hokage. He placed a hand on the young boy's shoulder._

"_Naruto, what are you doing?" The blonde shifted sideways so that he faced the old man._

"_A Hyuuga tried to kill me. I'm here to find out who sent her, so I can kill them." _

_The old man's face turned livid with rage as he looked up at Hiashi. "Is this true?"_

_The man averted his eyes and stared at the dead woman's corpse instead. "Yes, however that woman was acting on her own, not on the orders of the main branch." _

"_Then tell me this. Why does her curse seal glow?" a hush fell over the crowd of restless Hyuuga's at the Third's cold accusation. After being activated, the curse seals glow did not fade for a few hours. Someone had activated her seal before her desperate attack on the young hunter-nin. _

_Sarutobi looked solemnly at the crowd of shuffling Hyuuga's. Nobody dared meet his eyes. "Hiashi, I cannot have your clan administering what they feel is justice. If you cannot prove that she was working alone based on nothing but your word, you will be putting your clan at risk of termination."_

_A shocked gasp ran through not only the Hyuuga's, but even the Anbu present. Termination was the wiping out of a clan that had turned rogue on it's own village. This was not a practice in Konoha, and the closest thing was the famous Uchiha Massacre that had occurred a few years back. The loss of Konoha's two major clans would deal a devastating blow to the village's economy, but the Third never spoke lightly._

_Immediately, Hyuuga's began glaring and accusing each other. People began to point and yell until fights broke out. "Enough." The quite command from the stoic ten-year old brought silence to the rowdy crowd. "Hang her corpse on you front gate for a week, and all shall be forgotten."_

_The blond hunter-nin leapt onto the walls and stared up at the full moon. "Should the Hyuuga's cross me again, I will not hesitate to ensure my own survival." They blinked, and he vanished into the inky night._

**End Dream**

Naruto blinked warily as he stared around the dimly lit dungeon. 'How long have I been out?' A low grumble echoed in the back of his mind before the fox's lazy reply drifted into his mind.

"**They pumped you full of drugs for four days straight. Congratulations. You can now honestly say you're a drug addict." **The door clicked open, and in walked the scarred interrogator. An assistant followed closely behind with a tray full of instruments, many of which Naruto recognized.

"Last chance kid." The man crouched down so he was at eye level with the chained blonde.

"Do your worst," croaked the disoriented blonde. "I won't tell you a thing."

The interrogator nodded at his assistant. "Thank-you Inu. You many leave."

The woman nodded hesitantly and took one last glance at the prisoner before leaving.

'He looks so young without his mask. Hard to believe he killed so many.' She shut the door gently and stood outside, waiting for her superior to do his thing. Not a sound came through the door.

**3 days later**

The scientist that had been there when Naruto had first awoken, watched in fascination as the skin on the blonde's arm creped back together and sealed up as if it had never been broken.

"Incredible! Kaji was right when he said you represented the future!" The man gleefully slid the scalpel across the hunter-nin's stomach. Naruto gritted his teeth as his intestines were exposed to the stale dungeon air. A few seconds later, his stomach stitched itself back together.

The scientist watched and gave a grin as his experiment recovered. "Marvelous. Absolutely marvelous! It seems your body heals all life threatening injuries almost instantly as long as you have chakra," he glanced over at the bloody six inch nail impaling the blonde's left wrist, "though it seems you can't heal if there is foreign matter in your body." He scribbled something down on his clipboard. "It truly has been a wonderful experience working with you Naruto-kun!" He stood up from his stool.

Using his left hand, he pushed his glasses back into place. "We'll see if you can regenerate digits tomorrow! Then we'll move on to whole limbs!! Won't that be exciting?!" He smiled again and walked out of the dungeon humming a strangely jaunty tune for a man that had just tortured someone.

"**What a freak." **Finally alone, Naruto allowed himself a small groan of pain. A very small groan.

"Bastard left the nail in my wrist." This was very worrisome for Naruto. He couldn't heal if the damn nail was still in his wrist, plus he was quickly losing feeling in his left hand. The door reopened and admitted an ordinary looking man. His face would have blend into any crowd, and his clothing would have been perfect camouflage in any throng of people had it not been for the huge bloodstain on it. A bloody scalpel was clutched in his right hand. As blue eyes met dull brown ones, the smiling man allowed his lips to curve upward into a slow smirk.

Walking over, the average looking man wrenched the spike from the blonde's wrist. Naruto grunted in pain as the red coated nail was dropped carelessly onto the floor. The man studied the boy for a moment before smiling again. "Pay back time."

The smiling intruder pulled back the hand holding the scalpel and slammed it down on the manacle, shattering the bloody piece of steel. With his right hand freed and left hand healing, Naruto grappled with his other hands chain while his scalpel wielding savior freed his legs. Rubbing some feeling back into his numb wrist, the blonde scowled at the man. "What took you so long?" The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a familiar scarred ivory mask. "Thought you might want this back."

AN: Oh I'm a bad boy lol. For some reason, I feel like ending the chapter here. Please, feel free to tell me how evil I am.


	7. Character Evaluation

_Baynard's evaluation of Naruto characters_

_Just in case people are confused, I updated twice in one day. Chapter 6 is the actual real chapter update, this is just something i did when i was bored. Sorry for the confusion_

**Sasuke**: I really don't like Sasuke in the manga or anime. I have nothing against the little angst queen's attitude, but it's his level of power that pisses me off. Before he left for Orochimaru, his skills and talent could be passed off for his genius and copying capabilities. After Orochimaru? That guy is invincible. He could get a boner and kill someone with it since he can chidori up any part of his body. Next thing you know, he'll pull a katon out of his ass and kill Itachi. Luckily, I won't be giving him that much power in my story, but he'll still pretty much be in character. But Naruto and Sasuke won't be as buddy buddy as they were in the show.

**Sakura**: A weak useless girl (no offense to any girls out there) who has an even more useless split personality. I began liking Sakura after the time skip where she stops whining and starts kicking ass. Plus she's buff lol. I will be bringing up Sakura's power a bit ahead of schedule, and inner Sakura will play a bigger role in her capabilities. So rest assured people, Sakura is more then a stage prop in my story.

**Naruto**: A retarded moron. I think the voters agree with me since he's never been the most popular character in the anime **named after him**. They should call the damn show Sasuke lol. Very little talent, and even less brains. Incredible luck and stubbornness rivaled by only his stamina. You can see the difference between my version and the real Naruto. Three years training. Sasuke becomes so powerful he bitch slapped kyuubi's ass around in his own cage. Sakura is buff enough to rape Kakashi. Literally. Medical jutsu's from Tsunade is quite the bonus. Naruto? What can I say. He learned a bigger rasengan, can grow out of control and kill himself. Plus he seemed to have lost some intelligence as well. Nope. Not my kind of Naruto story sorry.

**Kakashi: **I like him. He's cool. Funny. Reads porn in public. Gotta hand him a metal for having that much balls;). His favoritism pisses me off, but really I can't blame the guy. Between teaching a genius, a stage prop, and a retard, I'd choose the genius hands down. Even if he is an angst queen.

**Orochimaru: **Homo pedophile written all over his freaky snake ass. He's like Mr. Fantastic. He can stretch himself. Don't think I'll change him at all in my story

**Tsunade**: Buff old lady who can kill someone with her knockers. If all else fails, there's her finger of doom. She'll stay in character. I hope.

**Jiraiya**: Moron, but he chooses to act like one unlike Naruto, who was born retarded no doubt. I don't know what he was doing with Naruto during the three year training trip, most likely trying to get it on with the ladies, but he sucks as a teacher. Out of all 3 sannins, his student sucked the most after training. I doubt he'll change that much in my story.

_And there u have it ladies and gents. I'll post up one on the more minor characters at a later date._


	8. Time to blow this joint Literally

**AN: I apologize for making you guys wait so long, but between my life and writing fanfiction, I'm afraid to say my life has to come first. But worry not; with summer here I am free to write to my heart's content. Read and review please.**

Naruto fingered the mask his savior had returned. His icy blue eyes stared down at the symbol of his alter ego as his fingers caressed the ivory face plate. A small pop echoed in the quiet dungeon, and the huge man was veiled in smoke. The grayish wisps vanished, and the man had been replaced by an exact replica of Naruto.

The bloodied up Naruto donned the mask while concentrating a thin layer of chakra on his face to keep it in place. Adjusting the mask slightly, Naruto then turned his full attention to the clone. "Situation report."

The clone raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't it be easier to just dispel me?"

"It would, but I prefer to hear a verbal report. You should know that quite well."

The shadow clone nodded before speaking. "After you left me on the wall, I patrolled about under the guise of the guard you killed. No problems there since nobody came to relieve my position. At 0100 there was a disturbance towards the center of the village. Your chakra flared up, and I proceeded at planned should you be detected." The clone took a breath before continuing his informational, if not a bit dry report.

"I entered the village during your fight with whom I assume to be the Raikage and broke into every weapon shop I could find and commandeered a number of explosive tags. After the fight died out, and your body was taken away, I took on the form of a stray cat and wandered about the village placing the explosives at strategic points. I have linked them all together to one central triggering point. I estimate that the damage will be at least 50 destruction of all the buildings currently in this area. Human casualty is an unknown factor."

The real Naruto absorbed his clone's report in relative silence. "Excellent. Dismissed."

After removing the weapons pouch from his hip, the clone popped out of existence.

Now alone, the blonde began rummaging through the pouch his clone had supplied him with to check his inventory. "**Wow, six kunais. 50 feet of wire, and 20 shurikens. Oh and that dagger from your sister**" muttered the fox sarcastically. **"They'll never know what hit them." **Explosive laughter echoed in Naruto's head as the hunter-nin eased open the dungeon door.

Checking both ways, he made sure no one was around before slipping out. **"They may have cameras kit" **warned the Kyuubi.

'I highly doubt that. Most villages don't bother bugging their torture rooms. Nobody really wants tapes of people being mutilated lying around.' The huge fox scoffed in his cage and rolled over onto his back in order to stretch his belly.

"**Hell I would." **Naruto snorted but did not reply. Some unfortunate attendant was walking towards him while concentrated on a clipboard filled with papers. A quick slash to the jugular with a kunai with a hand covering her mouth to silence her groan, and the body was on the floor. Summoning a monstrous fox out with a few hand seals and blood, the blonde nodded wordlessly at the corpse while placing a finger where his lips should have been.

The shaggy fox nodded in understanding. Take care of the body, silently. The hunter-nin left the gigantic fox knowing if anyone were unlucky enough to walk in on his meal, they would be dealt with in the most lethal of manners. Turning down another corridor he cursed his luck silently when he spotted two shinobi walking towards him.

Henging quickly into the woman he had just killed moments earlier, he tried to walk past. One of the male shinobi grinned at his partner while the other man paled as Naruto closed in. Tense and coiled tight as a spring, the undercover blonde halted as the nervous man came up. "Uh…Nemu-chan.. Umm willyougooutwithmetonight?" His partner howled with laughter as the stammering man sweated and blushed while Naruto gaped openly at him.

Inside Naruto's head, another being was howling with laughter. **"Oh my fucking god kit!"** Another bout of laughter interrupted the fox's breathing as Naruto tried to figure out what to do. **"You homo fagtard, I never knew you swung that way!!" **The demon fox wheezed desperately as he tried to control his laughter and regain the ability to breathe. The hunter-nin smiled at he spotted a nearby closet.

'Perfect.' Grabbing the man's wrist, he pulled him over and shoved him in the closet before entering and shutting the door.

If the man had been red before, he was now practically glowing in the darkness of the closet. "Nemu-cha.chan, what are you doing?" A blow to the solarplex and the man was doubled forward in a silent gasp. Grabbing his head, Naruto twisted clockwise savagely until he heard a satisfying crack. Lowering the body silently onto the floor, he reopened the door and smiled at the dead man's partner. A jab to his Adam's apple and a quick poke to the nerve in his lower back, and he fell over paralyzed. Dragging his body into the closet, Naruto quickly slashed the immobile man's quaking throat.

Once more, the blond used his blood to summon this time a pair of identical looking foxes. Everything from the silver whiskers to the slight dash of gray at the tip of their tails mirrored each other. "Do what you do best" he whispered softly while returning to his normal form

Bending down to wipe the bloody blade on one of the dead guy's jacket, Naruto began to search the bodies for any salvageable weapons. Removing a shuriken pouch, he bound it to his right leg. After rummaging around the bodies and removing items he deemed necessary, the blonde slipped silently out the closet to continue his perilous journey through the interrogation office.

**Konoha**

"Anko, you knew him best. You should say something." The red eyed genjutsu mistress had been pleading with her friend since morning. But Anko had continuously refused to speak at her little brother's funeral. The raven haired kunoichi shook her head and continued pummeling the training post.

"No." Kuranei sighed and placed her hand on her long time friend's shoulder.

"I know it's hard for you Anko, Naruto was closest to you after all. But tomorrow is his funeral! You knew him best, you should speak."

Anko shook off her friends hand and stomped angrily towards the jounin headquarters. "No. If I did speak, it means he's really dead. And I know he's not dead. He wouldn't go down that easily." The last part had been a disbelieving whisper that Kuranei barely caught. The snake sannin's former apprentice took off, leaping for the nearest rooftop.

Kuranei watched sadly as her friend sped away. Turning around, she found Asuma standing behind her. Frowning slightly as she saw the smoking jounin, she glared as he took a slow drag from the death stick and breathed out a cloud of noxious smoke.

"I take it that didn't go to well?" The red eyed woman shook her head sadly.

Asuma snorted before placing the cigarette back in his mouth. "If anyone else had suggested that her little brother was dead in her face like you did, they would be joining the other idiots in the hospital." And it was true too. Anko had sent more then half a dozen shinobi who had been foolish enough to be talking about Naruto in her presence to the emergency care ward.

The bearded man sighed sadly and exhaled out another breath of smoke. "Such a shame, he was a good kid." Asuma paused as he remembered his last exchange with Naruto before he had left. He felt a sudden urge to confess to Kuranei just how much she meant to him. Taking a final drag from his dying cancer stick, Asuma dropped it to the ground and grinded it with his heel.

"Guess I'll speak tomorrow, I was the last one to see him."

**Cloud**

The huge crowd of lightening citizens shifted uneasily as they watched the traditional ceremony for selecting a new Raikage. There were only two candidates, one a dark skinned orange haired jounin who had been holding the title as the strongest next to the Raikage. His dark tunnel like eyes were said to hold no light because he had sold his soul in order to defeat his enemies. The other was a blonde haired teal eyed woman who wore a scowl on her face. She was extremely beautiful; the only thing marring her perfect face was a small mole near her chin. She currently held the title of strongest kuinochi in Cloud, but other then that, she was mostly an unknown.

There should have been another, but many of the strongest shinobi had fallen in battle against the child who had single handedly invaded and robbed the village of their beloved Godaime Raikage. Even now, his name was only spoken in hushed whispers, and people still shivered when they heard it. Hunter-X, or X as most preferred to call him. It had been small compensation when they found out he was locked away in interrogation and would not live to see sunlight ever again.

The unruly mob silenced itself as a council elder held her hand up. In a crisp raspy voice she spoke, but nonetheless was heard by everyone present. "My fellow villagers, it has been a terrible month. Our dear Godaime has passed away amongst many of our brave shinobi, fighting against…" here she paused and cleared her throat. "Regardless of what has happened life must go on. We have mourned and paid our respects to lord Kaji, but now is the time to choose a new lightening shadow. Let the ceremony begin."

Stepping back, the old woman allowed the two Raikage hopefuls to take the stage. Looking at each other the man gestured for the woman to go first. She nodded in thanks before speaking in a strong voice. "My fellow citizens and shinobi, hard times have fallen upon our village. In the past, we have faced many hardships, but we have always prevailed." Here, she raised her fist in the air as her speech became more heated.

"We will triumph once more!" A rousing cheer burst from the excited crowd. She waited until the cheering died down before continuing her speech. "As your Raikage, I pledge to bring our village to new glories, as we reign supreme as our lord Kaji had so dreamed. We will carry out our late lord's dearest wish in seeing this village become the greatest in all the lands!!"

A monumental cry of exuberance echoed throughout the village as the beautiful woman stepped back and allowed the second candidate to speak.

**Naruto's location**

Far off to the right on a seemingly desolate rooftop, a pair of clear crystal blue eyes watched as the man took stage and began another rousing speech about honor, glory, and triumph. Naruto lay flat on the roof and contemplated his next move as he watched the man gesture wildly on top of the platform to emphasize his point.

The plan had been ideal, as close to perfect as such an on the fly plan could be. The traps had been set flawlessly throughout the village. The problem was that his clone had set the damn trigger right where the ceremony was currently being held. Of course, his clone could not have known about it, in fact had there not been a huge ceremony for choosing the next Raikage, it would have been the perfect spot for the trigger to be placed.

It was in an open public place where someone could casually walk up in a henge and plus the wall was relatively close providing a quick escape route after the detonation of the explosive tags. But now his plan had run into a kink. He could not risk waiting any longer, for it was about time for his interrogators daily visit. True, he had placed a trap for anyone who opened the door, but it was only a matter of time before they came to investigate if the interrogator did not return to check in.

His plan had been to blow the tags and to make a quick getaway in the confusion and chaos. **"Well we certainly seem to be in quite the predicament." **The great fox hummed contemplatively in Naruto's head. **"What's your plan?"** Naruto narrowed his eyes behind his mask, getting a good fix on the trigger near the platform where the two candidates were arguing for their cause.

'Plan hasn't changed. I blow this place, then run like hell.'

"**Mmmm. Fireworks should be good."**

'Yes, no doubt they will be."

**Cloud**

"Lightening shall never fall!" A great yell boomed through the crowded plaza. "We shall conquer all!" The orange haired man raised his clenched left hand into the air. "We will-"

His next line was cut off as the crowd fell silent and parted like the sea before Moses. A panting and sweating young woman raced up past the crowd until she reached the platform where the two candidates were speaking.

"Sir! X has escaped!" Screams of terror and yells of anger ripped through the crowd as everyone began trying to evacuate the plaza

"STOOOP!!" The thunderous yell from the orange haired man halted the crowd's movement. "All citizens, please return to your homes in a calm orderly fashion! Lock all doors and windows until a squad of shinobi has searched and cleared your dwelling. All shinobi spread out and search for the prisoner! Do not engage upon sighting, call for backup. He is too dangerous to take on alone." He leapt off the stage and joined the crowd of moving shinobi onto the rooftop heading for the interrogation office area.

The female Raikage candidate rushed up to the young woman who had given the warning. As the crowd of citizens fled the emptying plaza, the beautiful blonde reached the panting girl. "Are you alright?"

The girl looked up at the older woman and gave an eerie smile that did not reach her icy blue eyes. "I'm fine." Green eyes opened in shock as a blade was forcefully shoved into and through her diaphragm. "I'm just fine." The voice had changed from the gentle young woman's, to that of a deeper more masculine tone.

Mouth gasping uselessly for air, the woman realized who it was, but she could not utter a single sound to warn the disappearing ninja scattering towards any location they may think the prisoner was hiding in.

"Fear not. Many will join you before the day is over. You can rule over them in hell." Once bright olive eyes dulled as life faded from them. A scream came from the few remaining people as they saw one of their shinobi fall over and the young girl who gave the warning vanish in a cloud of smoke. As the smoke cleared, the very familiar figure of hunter-X could be seen leaping onto the base of the memorial platform.

Touching his left hand on the stone that contained the trigger, Naruto turned around and stared out at the petrified faces that peered back in astonishment. "Sayonara."

Chakra surged form his fingertips and into the seal. The reaction was instantaneous. It began with an explosion that engulfed the unmoving blonde. People watched in horrified fascination as clouds of smoke mushroomed out from throughout their beloved city. Explosions ripped the through the Cloud's once proud village, gutting it like a fisherman would his daily catch. Buildings collapsed left and right like cardboard, and a sea of flames engulfed the village. Screams of distress could be heard coming form the homes of those who had unwittingly locked themselves in for protection only to find themselves buried within the smoldering remains of their own homes.

Shinobi cried out in shock and confusion when suddenly the buildings they were on collapsed under them from an explosion under its foundations. Sewage pipes burst into flames as years of built up human filth and waste were lit from the explosives placed inside them. The stench of burning feces became prominent throughout the city, covering the smell of burning flesh even as the burning individuals cried out in agony. And to the people lucky enough to be only watching, it seemed like an agonizing eternity, where in reality, it took only minutes for the once powerful village to be crippled beyond recognition. Apocalypse had arrived in Cloud in the form of a short blond hunter-nin. Years from now, many citizens of lightening would scold their naughty children and frighten them with stories of how X could come and take away disobedient children and eat them.

The name of hunter-X would be immortalized that day, as the one who brought down an entire village single handedly, and a new title would be added to the growing list of Naruto's nicknames. The Butcher of Cloud.

**An: Well there you have it chapter 6. I'm a bit rusty from not writing fiction for so long, but I'll try to bring my A game in chapter 7. Please send in your comments.**


	9. Funeral crasher

**An: I'm terribly sorry for the long wait, but my parents had taken me on a two week trip to tour the college campuses of California. Sorry if this chapter is a bit rushed. **

**13 hours since the Cloud incident **

The woods were a simple green and brown blur to the fleeing hunter-nin. At the high speeds he was moving at, it was a miracle that he hadn't crashed into a tree in the dense forest. Behind him, Naruto could detect the quick movements of numerous figures giving chase. Cloud hunter-nins no doubt.

"**How ironic, that you, praised as one of the best hunter-nins in Konoha would be running away from fellow hunter-nins." **Nearly eight similarly masked ninjas appeared behind the running Naruto, each with a katana strapped over their shoulder. Turning his attention back onto the path he was traveling on, the blonde had to concentrate on not stumbling over his own feet. Even for a demon container, a week of torture on top of not eating left its mark.

**Konoha**

Sarutobi stared aimlessly at his desk even as his hands seemingly with a mind of its own filled out the endless piles of paperwork in front of him. Sign, put the date. Sign, put the date. Sign, put the date. The Third sighed as he stood up and allowed himself a small break.

His knees popped as he stretched out his cramped fingers. Clasping his hands behind his back, he stared out the window and let out a world weary sight that could only belong to an old man who had seen too much of what life had to offer.

The faceless voice of an Anbu drifted through the door. "Asuma is here to see you lord Hokage." Sarutobi grunted in acknowledgement as his chain smoking son stepped in and shut the door behind him.

Taking the lit cigarette from his lips, the bearded jounin blew out a small cloud of smoke before speaking. "It's almost time."

The Third returned to his desk and sat down with another heavy sigh. Interlocking his fingers in front of his face, the grizzled war veteran gazed up at his son. "Are all the preparations ready?"

Putting the death stick back into his mouth, the younger Sarutobi nodded in confirmation.

Nodding his head approvingly, the Hokage took his hat off and placed it onto the only open space on his document filled desk. "And have you spoken to Anko?" Asuma nodded again. "And?"

"She still refuses to speak. Says it's the same as acknowledging his passing and what not." The smoking man shook his head. "I think you should order her to see a psychiatrist soon. Once his death hits home, she could have a psychological breakdown, or go on a killing rampage. Knowing Anko, it is most likely to be the latter."

The Hokage nodded as he picked up a pen and once again returned to the tedious job of filling out papers. "One other thing old man." The Third frowned and turned his attention back onto his son. "You may want to up the security at the funeral. God knows what those villagers may try to do."

The elderly Sarutobi shook his head in disgust even as he realized the truth in his son's words. "It's times like these I can finally understand why my students were so eager to leave this village."

Asuma nearly dropped his cigarette in surprise. "You don't mean that old man." He turned around to leave.

The Hokage snorted. "Don't I? You'd be surprised." The wizened man sighed once more as he returned to filling out papers. 'This accursed paperwork isn't helping reinforce my will to stay either.'

**Unknown Location**

The small open spot in the dense forest was partially lit by the small rays of sunlight that managed to sneak in past the thick canopy of green leaves overhead. All around in the environment, small animals and bugs went about their business, squirrels gathering nuts to store for the coming winter, birds building nests to nurture the next generation, bees courting and dancing with the few flowers that managed to survive under the massive trees.

But there was something or rather someone who wasn't doing anything at all. Uzumaki Naruto seemed completely out of place with the bustling animals surrounding him, sitting as still as a statue, hidden amongst leaves on the third branch of an ancient and gnarled tree. His blond hair caught and reflected a small amount of sunlight dully, as a gentle breeze nipped playfully at the ends of his hair.

The animals in the background ignored the new intruder and continued on with their business, content to leave this alien alone. And the blond hunter-nin sat perfectly still, watching, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.

**Hunter-Nin's POV**

The eight cloud hunter-nins were spread out in a Diamond Head formation with their captain taking the lead, slowly treading forward through the dense forest. They knew their prey was close, they had seen his tracks disappear, indicating that he was no doubt preparing an ambush for the retrieval team. The one who had destroyed their home was hiding close by, and he was going to pay for what he had done.

They weren't going to kill him here, oh no. They were going to bring him back alive so that they could crucify his body in the city plaza before burning him at the cross. This was the only way the people of Cloud would ever feel compensated for their tragic losses. And so these eight elite hunters moved on carefully, senses on full throttle waiting to pick up on any abnormal signs that would give away the enemies inevitable ambush.

**Naruto POV**

As his pursuers came into view, Naruto showed no signs of any emotion. Fear, nervousness, anxiety, nothing. A quick glance showed that they were spread out into a Diamond Head formation to avoid being all killed by one well placed jutsu. Raising his hand, he twitched his index finger slightly. A shadow detached itself from a nearby tree and plummeted noiselessly straight down at the 8 hunter-nins.

"**Looks like the shows about to start."**

'Indeed it has Kyuubi.'

"**Think you'll win?" **

'I don't think about the outcome of a battle Kyuubi, I just fight it.' Their conversation ended when the clone reached his intended target.

**Hunters**

There had barely been any noise to warn the hunting party. Nothing had seemed out of place, except for a soft rustling most would have passed off as the wind. Leaping backwards, the captain managed to avoid the falling body before it fell on top of him. The man closest to the left of the team leader launched a handful of shurikens towards the blonde that had dropped out from the shadows.

Dancing gracefully between the deadly blades the clone charged forward towards the captain who by then had unsheathed his blade and gotten into a defensive stance.

Ducking the overhead swing aimed to decapitate, the clone lunged forward and wrapped his arms around the man's waist as his opponent's teammates closed in around them. A bright glow encompassed the clone before it imploded, cloaking the captain in a fiery burst of explosive chakra.

When the smoke cleared, a burnt and charred log surrounded by a 10 foot radius of decimated forest growth could be seen. The captain leapt down from the tree he had kawarimied into and scanned the area grimly. Nothing. "Be on guard. This is no doubt the first of many attacks." His faceless team nodded back at him. Reforming the Diamond Head formation, they once more crept off silently, now more paranoid then ever.

**Naruto**

"**This guy is good." **The huge fox rubbed his snout against his paw in his cage. **"There's no way to tell between a normal clone and an exploding one, yet he still managed to get out in time. I must say, this flesh bag has impressed me."**

Naruto stared on blankly as the group crept closer to his position. 'I'll have to be careful around that one.' Clasping his hands together, he made the ram seal and began concentrating his chakra. The blonde closed his eyes as he focused his entire being into his technique. The second phase was about to begin.

**Hunters**

A mist had crept in out of nowhere, and now the team could barely see a yard ahead of themselves, let alone each other. Grabbing his throat mike, the captain spoke into it calmly even as the unnatural mist thickened into a dense creamy white. "Rally to me."

Through the cloak of white density, his teammates came out. One by one they drifted towards their captain and squatted or stood staring at him, awaiting further orders. 'Good all eight are here.'

A brief pause in thought had the gears turning in the captain's head. "Scatter!" he bellowed, but it was already too late. A kneeling hunter-nin had detonated sending three members of the team flying in the resulting concussive blast. Two landed outside in the mist too far for the eye to see, but the third and the closest had been caught in the midst of the blast.

Screaming in agony, the man stumbled while holding onto the charred lump of meat that had once served as his right arm. The medical specialist rushed forward and pried the screaming man's left hand off the injury and began binding the smoldering wound to the best of her ability. The smell of burnt flesh had bile rising in all their throats, but the remaining four hunters ignored it and instead formed a defensive perimeter around the injured man and the medic treating him.

Staring out carefully into the mist, the captain watched for any signs of movement. Again, nothing. "Sir" The hunter on his right side spoke up. "What about Ganzo and Tenchi?" The captain hesitated for a moment but shook his head.

"No, it's far too dangerous to go out to retrieve them." As the ninja on his right shifted slightly, the captain once again shook his head. "And no, I won't let any of you go out there alone." His eyes narrowed as a shapeless form appeared in his vision before quickly vanishing. "It's too late for them now; hold your position until she's done."

The other three nodded their heads reluctantly in response and continued straining their eyes against the mist as they fingered their weapons.

**Naruto**

Nicking his left thumb with a kunai, Naruto swiped the bleeding digit across the palm of his right hand before making the familiar sears required for summoning. Slamming his palm into the ground, two foxes appeared. One was a gray shaggy male fox about the size of a small tiger. One of his eyes was permanently closed with a vertical scar running down it, and his jaws seemed to be jutted out in a permanent leer.

The second female fox was smaller, slightly larger then the size of a common dog. Her well groomed silver fur seemed to contrast greatly with the wild untamed mane of the first fox.

"Zaraki there are two downed shinobi in the mist, go out there and take care of them." The half blind fox grinned viciously before hurrying off into the mist to find his next meal.

Naruto turned his attention to the female. "Inoue I need you to cast your genjutsu on that group of shinobi at the center of the mist." If possible the vixen's face pulled into a small pout as she glared up at her master.

"All work and no play is very unhealthy for a girl you know." A scream followed by a vicious howl of triumph punctured the silence that followed her carefree statement. Glancing into the mist Naruto grunted in approval before looking back at his summon.

"I'll let you have the other six if you help me." The pouting face morphed into a happy if not slightly sadistic smile. She ran up and rubbed her back against his legs before moving off into the mist.

Inoue laughed mockingly as her voice reached Naruto's ears "I knew you loved me!" The blonde nodded his head in satisfaction before creating half a dozen clones that dove off into the swirling white mist on an invisible command from the original.

Though his fox summons came in all shapes, colors, and sizes, the one thing they all shared was their gift with genjutsu. Unlike human genjutsu, fox genjutsu were not as easily dispelled and they tended to be much more subtle and hart to recognize.

"**And so all the pieces are in place. Do you think it will be checkmate next round?"**

Leaping back onto the branch he had left in order to summon his foxes and clones, the blonde considered the demon's words for a moment before replying.

'Yes, and if it isn't then I'm in trouble.'

**Hunters**

The blood curdling scream from their fallen companions left the shinobi tense, but it was the howl that followed that had them all drawing out their weapons. Eyes darting quickly about scanning for enemies, they unknowingly fell into a primal stat of terror where their fight or flight instincts were screaming at them at full blast. They didn't know it, but they had already fallen into the beginning phase of Inoue's genjutsu.

**Naruto**

While Inoue had been casting her genjutsu over the small group of hunter-nins guarding the medic, Naruto had used the cover of the fog to flank the nervous group. He paused to examine his summon's handy work and nodded in admiration.

Already the four supposed guards were grouping together, leaving the medic exposed to attack. This was only the first phase of her genjutsu. Unlike human genjutsu that primarily effected the five senses, fox genjutsu could also prey on the primal side of its target. Fear gave humans almost supernatural abilities from increased speed and strength to savagery unrivaled by any other animal on the face of the world.

But this rage came at the price of the rational side of their minds, making them even easier prey to genjutsu attacks. Humans, being pack animals, instinctively group together when confronting an unknown enemy. Fox genjutsu were extremely hard to recognize and dispel due to the fact that unlike the human variation, it didn't force itself onto the host, but slowly merged itself into the chakra system. Though it took more time, fox genjutsu was much more dangerous then its human counterpart and the target did not dispel the genjutsu on their own if given enough time.

The blond hunter-nin smiled slightly when he saw the four guards back to back. From past experience working with Inoue, he knew that those four could only see what she wanted them to and nothing else. He could dance naked in front of them and they wouldn't notice a thing.

Naruto leapt off the branch he had been observing the situation in and landed gracefully behind the medic-nin. The woman whirled around and gasped when she caught sight of the short figure advancing towards her while dual wielding kunais. Her hand darted for her shuriken pouch, but already the blond hunter-nin was in range.

Leaping back, the medic-nin barely managed to avoid the kunai her opponent had swiped at her stomach. Slowing her backward momentum, she pulled out a handful of gleaming metal and dispersed them into both her hands in one smooth motion, but her enemy had stopped and was staring at her dispassionately.

Not questioning her luck, she moved forward to throw, but stopped as a pain shot through her abdominal area causing her to drop the shurikens. She stared down at the front of her shirt and realized it had ripped. 'That's funny when did it…?' Slowly, almost as if to mock her question, a small thin red line appeared on her smooth abbs and grew frighteningly long.

She gaped stupidly even as the line opened up, dumping out her steaming intestines onto the dirty forest floor. Dropping onto the soil next to her entrails, she grabbed desperately at the gaping wound knowing that not even a miracle worker like Tsunade could possible save her.

The dying medic looked up at the unmoving blonde and gasped out her question as the world seemed to spin and fade out. "But how? You missed!" The blonde hunter-nin turned around and vanished into the thick mist.

"I never miss." His cold reply was the last thing she heard before the icy grips of death claimed her soul.

**Inoue**

Inoue smiled in approval as she watched the female medical kunoichi die. 'As cold and ruthless as always Naruto-kun.' She still remembered the first time he had summoned her; she had just hit the fox version of puberty. 'Hard to believe he's grown so much, yet changed so little.' She continued musing until said hunter-nin dropped in besides her.

Crouching down next to his favorite summon, Naruto scratched the special spot he knew Inoue loved, right behind her left ear. Her tongue lolled out and her ears flattened against her skull in pleasure as her master pampered her. "How are you doing with those four?" Pouting slightly as he stopped scratching, the fox turned her gaze contemplatively onto the four humans who remained oblivious to the fact that their medic was dead.

"They're just about ready to crack. What about that guy without the arm?" The blonde grunted and sat down crossed legged next to the fox who then laid her head onto his lap demanding attention. Scratching away absentmindedly, Naruto focused his attention on the group before him. "I've got a message I want delivered."

Without warning, one of the four nameless hunter-nins turned around and began yelling at his captain. The blonde smiled underneath his soulless mask. "It's begun."

**Hunters**

"This is all your damn fault! What the hell are we doing out here anyways?!" The captain glared back at his impudent subordinate.

"My fault?! How the fuck is it my fault?!! If you retards were half as talented as you though you were, we wouldn't be in this mess right now!" The other two men snarled and turned around to face their captain at his accusations.

It happened in an instant. The first man lunged forward towards his captain with a kunai in hand, but the captain was too fast. Side stepping the enraged man's charge, the team leader slammed his katana in between the other's shoulder. The fight that followed was quick and brutal as was the way of ninja battles. In the end, only the captain was left breathing, but for how long was a debatable point.

With the adrenaline fast fading, the pain came back in full vengeance. Five kunais and 3 shurikens could be seen sticking out at odd angles all over his body, and a katana had been shoved through his left shoulder. Blood was pooling at his feet as he staggered over to where his medic had last been seen. "Isan!" he rasped out. "Damn it Isan, I need your help!!" his voice sounder weaker and more desperate as he stumbled about blindly in the curtain of mist.

His left foot stepped on something soft and squishy, and a foul smell assaulted the captain's nose. The man recoiled in horror as he came upon the disemboweled body of his medic. Emptying the contents of his stomach as the putrid smell of intestines got to him, the captain fell to his knees among the freshly spilled guts of the woman.

Coughing a few times, he failed to get to his feet as he felt all his remaining energy leave him. The soft sounds of footsteps drifted to his ears, but the normally comforting noise sounded more like a funeral march to the captain. Utilizing the last of his strength, he propped himself up next to Isan's body and watched his adversary materialize out of the mist.

With his increasingly fading vision, the captain studied the young boy, for surely only one so young could be so short, that had devastated his once proud team. Gleaming blond hair reached the waist of the shirtless hunter-nin. His muscular chest and six pack abbs rippled with each step he took like that of a huge cat's, graceful, but deadly. Covering his face was the symbol of Hunter-X, the mask with the crossed shaped scar that had struck fear onto an untold number of criminals right before they died.

In his right hand, he held a bloody katana that dripped a small trail of blood onto the ground. His left hand held onto a large makeshift bag that was made out of what appeared to be the robe like uniforms the Cloud hunter-nins were required to wear. The bag was full, and the bottom was stained crimson with small drops of blood seeping though once in a while. The captain had a good idea what was inside.

His nemesis stopped before him and stared down at his beaten form. The captain gave a good natured salute towards the boy in front of him. "Well done." He gave a weak chuckle as the world seemed to blur around the edges. "At least I was beaten by a superior opponent." His breathing became shallow and the man knew his life had come to an end. "Hang on Rei-chan," he whispered softly, "I'm coming."

Naruto stood before the dead man's body and returned the small salute. One swing of the katana and he added the captain's head to the bag he held in his left hand. A second swing and the medic's head joined those of her comrades.

The blonde walked casually into the mist completely unaffected by the fact that he had just beheaded two still warm corpses. After a few steps though the thick mist, he came upon the trembling form of the last and only living member of the squad that had been sent out to kill him. "Pl..please. I have children." The man with the missing right hand tried to crawl away as the blond hunter-nin approached him. Stopping just before the handicapped man, Naruto dropped the bag next to him.

"Take that and return to your village. Let them serve as an example to all those who would dare cross me." The man reached his left hand out to the stained bag as if it were a lifeline. Holding tightly onto the bloody bag, the man got unsteadily to his feet while facing the inert blonde. Backing away slowly as if expecting the fair-haired hunter-nin to laugh and say 'just kidding' and attack, the man slowly gained confidence with each step. Turning around he fled through the mist trying to put as much distance between him and the blonde as possible.

"**You realize that you are one sick twisted son-of-bitch right?" **

Naruto watched the fleeing man disappear into the mist coolly. 'I have no idea what you're talking about fox.' The huge fox chuckled quietly as his host turned around and began racing westwards towards the border of fire country.

"**I mean that little surprise you left in the bag. You think it'll reach cloud, or will he get curious?" **

'Does it really matter?' There was a short pause as the demon considered his host's words. A moment later the gargantuan fox grinned again before settling down in his cage.

"**So how much damage can 20 explosive tags do?" **Naruto shrugged noncommittally as he continued his fat paced trek towards Konoha. The fox chuckled softly again. "**You must get it from that sister of yours."**

The blonde snorted beneath his mask. 'No doubt about that.'

**Funeral**

Sarutobi eyed the small crowd of gathered shinobi sadly. Most of them were hunter-nins and other shinobi who had worked with Naruto in the past, with the exception of Hyuuga Hiashi who had come to honor the one who had fallen while trying to protect the Hyuuga bloodline. The third sighed and removed his hat as he stood up on the podium next to the enlarged picture of the masked Naruto. They had been unable to find any picture of him without his mask on, since the only person possessing them was Anko, and she point blank refused to hand them over.

The elderly Hokage took a deep breath before launching into his speech. "Fellow shinobi and kunoichi, it saddens me greatly to have to stand here and speak to you this day. Recently, we have lost a young and promising shinobi who fell for his home and its people. To some, he was a shinobi of unmatched caliber. To others he was a demon vessel that they held in contempt. But I am here to tell you that he was nothing but a boy, a boy who had the weight of the world placed on him since his birth." Here Sarutobi took a deep breath to stop himself from breaking down. Deep down, he knew that Naruto wouldn't have wanted him to cry, but that may have been because Naruto didn't know how to cry. "His name was Uzumaki Naruto, and he was a shinobi of the leaf."

**Gates of Konoha**

The two gate guards sat idly by, passing the time with a deck of playing cards, discussing the funeral as they played go fish. "Shame really. One of our best hunter-nin from what I hear." His partner snorted and sneered. "Says you, the demon would have turned on us sooner or later. Better he died for Konoha I say." The first guard shook his head sadly at his fellow shinobi's disrespect for the fallen. He opened his mouth to reprimand his partner when he caught sight of the shirtless blonde figure walking casually thought the huge wooden gates.

His mouth stayed open as the man gaped in shock. The second guard turned away from his hand to look at his partner. "Oy it's your turn." Noticing the man's expression, he followed the stunned man's gaze. Blinking once to make sure he was seeing correctly, he rubbed his eyes with his hands to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

The blond hunter-nin walked up to the gate house and stopped in front of the two frozen guards. "Lost my passport back in Kumo." The two stupefied guards stayed unmoving as the blonde walked off into the village after his short explanation. A few minutes passed before the first guard managed to splutter out a few incoherent words. The second guard scratched his head before spitting on the floor.

"Well what do you know, the kid made it. You better go tell the Hokage." The first man snapped out of his daze and glared back at his partner.

"Why me? In fact, I became chunnin before you did if I recall correctly, so I should have seniority around here."

His partner rolled his eyes before replying. "Because if you don't, I'll tell your wife about that girlfriend of yours."

"What?!! I don't have a girlfriend!" protested the first guard angrily. The second guard smirked back that his partner.

"Ah, that may be true, but we all know how paranoid your wife is. Even if it weren't true, you'll still sleep on the couch for a month, and most likely not get any until next year. That's a long five months." The first man grumbled and stomped out of the guard house in defeat.

**Ramen stand**

"Give me another miso ramen old man!" The ramen stand owner stared out sadly at the disheveled figure of Mitarashi Anko. Placing another steaming bowl before the red eyed woman, he sighed as he watched her guzzle down her misery in another bowl of ramen. Pausing in her frenzied eating, the tired looking Anko gave a small hollow laugh. "You know, ramen was his favorite food. We would always argue over which was better, ramen or dango."

Her eyes stung as her tear ducts demanded for her to release her sorrow, but the iron willed kunoichi held them back. Looking up at the ramen stand owner for his reaction, she blinked at the surprised expression on his face.

"And I still say ramen is better." The same cold toneless voice that had haunted her dreams for the past week sent a jolt down her spine. The scantly clad woman whirled around in her seat as she stared at the short blonde standing before her. Reaching a trembling hand forward, she caressed the ivory mask her little brother always wore.

"It's really you" she whispered softly.

"Are you well Anko nee-chan? You look tired and unkept." There was an uncharacteristic hint of worry in his voice, but there was no mistaking his manner of speaking. Anko launched herself forward and enveloped her adoptive brother in a strong embrace ignoring the strange looks passing villager were giving them.

For the first time since she had heard the news of the demise of her younger brother, Anko allowed her tears to fall. "Everything is going to be fine now Naruto." A slow smile spread across her face, but faltered slightly when she felt her brother buckle under her. She pulled back and panicked as Naruto fell to one knee while leaning heavily against her.

"Naruto! What's wrong?!!" A soft groan was all she got in reply. Scooping up the twelve year old in her arms, she raced off desperately towards the hospital.

**Funeral**

"And we must not forget the sacrifice he made for out village." Asuma had surprisingly put out his cigarette for his speech, a sign of respect for those that knew him. "We must-"

"HOKAGE-SAMA!!" A sweating and panting man sprinted into view. The third turned about angrily to give the man who interrupted his adoptive grandson's funeral a piece of his mind when the man blurted out his message. "X has returned!!"

The third froze as his mind tried to process the message. The crowd of gathered ninja murmured in shocked excitement. Hiashi pushed his way forward through the crowd and snapped out at the gasping chunnin. "Are you sure it's him? Our enemies may have used henge to try to sneak in!"

"Uh…" The guard began to sweat as scores of gazes turned towards him. Sarutobi immediately reverted back into his role of Hokage as he learned of the possible security breach.

"Everyone spread out and search for Uzumaki Naruto and any other possible imposters that you do no recognize!" A chorus of hai's echoed as the gathered shinobi vanished off to do their lord's bidding.

Hiashi walked over to the Hokage, face flushed with excitement. "Do you think it's him?"

The third sighed and gaze up at the enlarged portrait of Naruto. "Honestly, I don't know."

**AN: Well there you go, read and review. I think this is my longest chapter yet. **


	10. Welcome home, BTW you're fired

**AN: Sorry for the long wait for the update. I've been stuck in a slight writer's block, and being a first generation college student, I've been up to my neck in research and other crap.**

**2:25 am Konoha Hospital**

The room was bathed in semi-darkness, lights blinking from monitors regulating the patient's health, and the only sound was the continuous beeping of the heart monitor confirming that the patient Uzumaki Naruto was indeed alive and well. On the crisp and clean pressed sheets of the hospital bed laid an unconscious Naruto who happened to be suffering from the side effects of soldier pill overdose a normally lethal condition that left our favorite blonde out of it for the past twelve hours.

Our of respect for his privacy, or more likely the snarling form of a very angry Anko, the infamous mask of hunter-X remained on the comatose blonde's face. Anko herself was currently fast asleep, bent over her chair that she had pulled up to her younger brother's bedside. Her head rested comfortably on her arms which happened to reside on the bedside of the patient who currently was oblivious to the living world.

The small stream of drool pooling under her full lips would bring a cry of distress from the poor nurse who had to clean all manners of unpleasant stains from the normally clean and spotless hospital covers. These ranged from urines and feces, to the possibly more disgusting sex stains left behind by long term male patients who got "bored".

Outside the semi-dark room however, two low voices conversed urgently. "Dr. Shimazaki please reconsider your action! This is madness!" The small outburst belonged to a petite nurse with dark chocolate eyes. Male patients referred to her as "the rack" due to her very well endowed set of mammary glands that the male patients greatly appreciated. And trust me, they appreciated them every chance they got. Her hair was tied in a small bun, a shade of deep purple, almost black, that left the more perverted patients with one question in their dazed minds. 'Do the carpets match the drapes?'

"You don't know what it was like Misato. You weren't old enough to remember what it was like." The normally smiling man was currently snarling like an animal with a predatory gleam shining evilly in his dark eyes. "I can't let him leave that room. I have to do this! For my wife and unborn son." The last part was whispered so softly the nurse had a hard time catching it.

The purple haired woman trembled in fright as her long time mentor and friend pulled out a vile of dark liquid. Her hand leapt involuntarily to her mouth as she recognized the liquid inside. "There's enough mercury and cyanide to put down a small herd of elephants." An insane smile spread across the unshaven face of the doctor.

"Even he won't survive this" he whispered softly. Putting the needle into the vile of poison, he watched in morbid fascination as the dark lethal concoction creped up the needle and into the syringe. This went against all his moral codes as a doctor, not to mention his oath as a medic, but his hatred for the demon that took away his wife and unborn child overrode any hesitation he may had had.

Turning around to enter the room, he found his arm being held back by his favorite student. Glaring at her until she let go, he couldn't help but notice the small buildup of tears in the corner of her eyes. Softening his gaze, Dr. Shimazaki reached out his free hand and patted her shoulder. "You're a good girl Misato, with a very bright future ahead of you. I don't want you involved in what's about to happen. No doubt the Hokage will have me executed for my actions." A soft chuckle escaped his dry lips. "You best leave if you don't want to join me."

His eyes hardened and became cold once more as he headed off into the room. The young nurse felt tears spill uncontrollably down her face as she watched her sensei walk to his death. Pausing over the sleeping form of Anko and Naruto, he held his breath while observing the prone blonde. He felt a shiver run down his spine as he stood over the unaware hunter-nin. 'He would have been your age.' Steeling his will, he let out a soft almost inaudible breath. 'This is for you Yui, and Shinji!'

The needle dove down point first for the unconscious blonde's exposed arm, the poisonous mixture dripping from the small opening at the tip. Centimeters from the vein, doctor turned assassin felt his arm being clamped down in an iron grip. He stared helplessly into the uncompassionate eyes of a smirking Mitarashi Anko.

"You really shouldn't breathe that loud near a kunoichi." Faster then the eye could follow, the doctor found his arm being twisted and held back in a painful arm bar. The needle was twirling playfully in the sadistic woman's free hand. Another shiver ran down the doctor's spine as a soft almost seductive voice whispered into his ear.

"So out to off my brother huh? Goes to show you can't even trust the fucking doctors in this village anymore." The last sentence had been hissed out with more venom then the vile contents of the needle. The raven haired kunoichi's eyes darted over to the frozen nurse by the doorway that had fallen onto her butt.

"Your little accomplice?" she whispered sweetly. Killing intent flooded the room paralyzing the already terrified medic near the door.

"Please," whispered the doctor frantically. "She had no part in this. This was my plan, she just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time."

Anko's eyes narrowed as she considered the man's words. "Coincidence is far and few between in the world of the shinobi." The girl was whimpering on the floor having never faced such an awful feeling in her life. It was as if the very breath was being slowly and meticulously squeezed from her oxygen starved lungs.

The sweating doctor turned around painfully so he could partially see his tormentor. "Do what you will with me, but I beg you spare Misato!" The trench coat wearing kunoichi measured his words for a moment before nodding in acknowledgment.

"Wish granted." The syringe stopped its hypnotic spin. The razor point of the needle dove in for the exposed neck of the treacherous doctor.

'Huh. It's almost like a mosquito bite' he thought dazedly. Anko's thumb pressed relentlessly down on the plunger sending another small spurt of toxic poison into the unfortunate would be avenger's neck.

The nurse watched in fascinated horror as her mentor's expression became calm and peaceful for a moment, almost as if he had seen his fate and accepted it knowing it could not be changed. Then his pupil dilated before contracting to unnaturally small pinpoints. His mouth fell open in a silent scream of pain. Blood slowly dripped out of his nose as his sweat glands began to ooze red. The cruel kunoichi released her hold on the dying man's arm as his entire body began to jerk and shake wildly.

Falling to the ground in a passable prayer position, the already dead man continued to convulse and bleed; staining the white lab coat he wore. Anko whistled appreciatively as she examined the still bleeding corpse. "That's some potent stuff."

The part time interrogation kunoichi sat back down on her seat and brushed a stray strand of blond hair lovingly from Naruto's masked face. Turning about slightly to face the frozen nurse, she sighed softly as she saw the first signs of shock set in. Tremors ran up and down the purple haired woman's body as she gazed upon the still bleeding body of her former superior.

"Clean that up and we'll call it even." The callous statement was enough to shock the nurse out of her stupor. Not even waiting for an answer, Anko gently rested her head by the bedside and closed her eyes. Soon, she was fast asleep. She managed to sleep through the nurse's quiet sobbing as she cleared out the man's body, trembling with every step she took. Even the soft scrubbing of a towel as the nurse erased any evidence of blood on the usually clean floor. Even when the nurse opened the window by the bed and jumped off the third floor.

There had been no scream, so Anko couldn't really be blamed. Add in the fact that she had not really slept much the past week due to her terrifying dreams; it was understandable why such a normally skilled kunoichi slept through the beautiful nurse's suicide. And even if she had been awake, it would have been highly doubtful whether she would have tried to stop the nurse. She was cruel like that.

**9:17 am Konoha Hospital**

The Third beamed slightly as he watched the food vanish from the plate. 'Just like Kakashi.' Sarutobi chortled silently to himself as he watched his young friend eat.

One could see Naruto move his chopsticks, but in a blink of an eye, the food would have vanished and you would be left staring at his masked face moving rhythmically indicating chewing.

The Hokage watched in interest as the meal seemingly disappeared into thin air without Naruto once removing his ornamental mask. 'I'll have to ask Kakashi if they're somehow related' mused the Third. Snapping out of his thoughts, Sarutobi allowed himself a soft chuckle.

"Best eat up there Naruto. You're a growing boy and you need your energy."

The boy grunted softly before speaking. "Anko said she'd come back with ramen later." The wizened Hokage benign laughter shook his shoulders gently.

'Never should have showed him how to eat ramen.' The old man's eyes drooped sadly. 'Just like his father.' A smile spread across his wrinkled face at his next thought. 'And no doubt his mother would be screaming at him too.' Shaking himself from his daydreams, the Hokage turned his attention back to his bedridden subordinate.

"So how do you feel Naruto?"

The blonde concentrated on his commander's words for a moment before answering. "I am at an optimal level of functioning. My chakra capacity is refilling steadily, now past the fifty percent mark, and my torn muscles are healing up from my journey back from Cloud. I still feel a hint of pain in my legs, but nothing I can't ignore. And yourself?"

Sarutobi smiled sadly at his report like answer. "I'm fine Naruto, and you'll be happy to know that the Hyuuga's have received the scroll containing the head of Himura Hyuuga." The Hokage shook his head and a smile of disbelief stretched across his lined face. "I still can't believe you managed to keep that scroll in your stomach for a week."

The blonde shrugged back. Sarutobi chuckled at the young shinobi's lack of answer. "You'll also be happy to know that Hiashi has transferred a very impressive amount of money to your account. You could live comfortably for the rest of your life without lifting a finger if you keep it in the bank, not taking your other funds into account."

The blonde shrugged uncaringly as he placed the tray onto the table next to his bed. The Hokage stood up to leave; after all, paperwork didn't wait. "Naruto, a delegate from Cloud will be arriving the day after tomorrow to explain and repent for their actions, and hopefully sign a treaty. I will need your report a.s.a.p. tomorrow latest. The bed-ridden hunter-nin nodded. '

Paperwork was nothing new to him. "You best rest up Naruto. I want you to be one of my body guards at the conference." Blond eyebrows shot up in disbelief underneath the faceless mask.

"Is that wise ji-san? I don't think my presence will be at all welcome." The Third let out a short barking laugh.

"No, they will not welcome you with open arms by my reckoning. But the presence of the Butcher of Cloud will no doubt curb their more outrageous demands."

"**Ha! They call you a butcher!" **cackled the demon deafeningly. Noticing the look Naruto was giving him the Third elaborated.

"Word of your deeds has reached as far as Sand village. Nothing has really been confirmed, but there is no doubt that the title Butcher of Cloud is attached to your name now Naruto." Stopping by the doorway Sarutobi turned around and gave a genuinely happy smile at the brooding blonde. "And Naruto…" The masked boy turned his soulless gaze onto the Hokage. "Welcome home."

**Council room 11:23 pm**

A stunned silence had fallen over the normally loud and shrill members of the council following the verbal recital of Naruto's no nonsense report. Nobody could quite comprehend the amount of damage one shinobi had managed to inflict on a village guarded by ninja. Thoughts began to turn towards what he could possible do to their village should he feel the need to leave without permission. Many nervous expressions began to grow on the councilor's faces.

An echoing bang snapped the dazed councilors out of their deliberation. Danzo had sprung up from his seat after slamming his remaining hand onto the table. "We should attack now while they are still weak! They won't be able to defend properly if the damage is as extensive as X claims!" He slammed his clenched fist onto the table to reinforce his point. Mumbled agreement swept though the room punctuated by heated arguments over the pros and cons of attacking the weakened cloud village.

"Silence!" bellowed the Third with authority. His powerful voice brought order to the meeting once more. "We will not be taking any actions until after the negotiations with Kumo. And war should be the final option we would consider." Danzo, ever the war hawk, was on his feet in seconds.

"But Hokage-sama! If X's report is accurate, they don't even have a Raikage! God knows how many shinobi that monster took out-" A glare from the aged Hokage brought Danzo's rant to an abrupt halt. Even those who hated the demon vessel knew better then to voice their opinions in front of the Hokage.

Rewording his argument quickly in his head Danzo continued speaking in a more controlled tone of voice. "All I'm trying to say is that we should consider the possibility of a preemptive strike now that we have the advantage knowing that Kumo is weak. There can be no better chance then this. We'll have X lead the attack. The sight of their hated "Butcher" may even be enough to get them to surrender without a fight!"

Excited babbling filled the room again as the councilors considered their next action. The Third smiled as Danzo unwittingly helped his hated leader. "Exactly why I will be bringing Naruto to the conference tomorrow." An unnatural silence fell over the room and Sarutobi wondered if he had suddenly gone deaf.

"Have you finally lost it?!" The outburst came from Tsume Inuzaka, sending the room into a frenzy of yelling and livid protests.

"Silence!" This happened to be the Hokage's favorite word. As the room piped down again Tsume continued her argument.

"I respect Naruto as a shinobi, and there is no doubt in my mind that he is one of our best Hokage-sama, but you should know that he can't negotiate worth beans! He negotiates with his fist!!" Hiashi stood up besides the Inuzaka clan leader.

"I'm afraid that I must agree Hokage-sama. Negotiation is not X's strong suite." The Third sighed and nodded his head in acknowledgement at his assessment.

"Yes, I am well aware of Naruto's…" Sarutobi searched about for the right word, "lack of finesse in regards to negotiating."

"Then why?!!"

"Let me finish Tsume-chan." The Inuzaka blushed scarlet as councilors aimed their glares at her.

"Naruto will not be negotiating. He will simply be acting as one of my guards." Aburame Shibi raised his eyebrows as he considered his leaders words.

"This plan is either shear genius or complete madness." Everyone settled down as the normally mute Aburame spoke up. "On one hand, Uzumaki's prescence will act as an intimidation factor by reminding them of what we are capable of, yet this could also push the negotiations to the back of the delegates mind once he or she sees him"

The Third nodded from his seat at the front of the council table. "Hopefully it will not be the latter." The Hyuuga clan head stood up from his seat and faced the Hokage.

"Lord Hokage we must consider the security risks for tomorrows so called delegates" he spat. "They have tried to use this tactic before to gain the Byakugan, and it cost my brother's life." Sarutobi raised his hand to halt the man's rant before it could build up any more steam.

"I assure you Hiashi, that they won't be trying anything that foolish anytime soon." The Hyuuga nodded tersely before returning to his seat besides Inuzaka Tsume. "Now we must move on to the more important issue of what we should ask for during tomorrows negotiations." Shouts and demands erupted from every corner of the room causing the elderly Hokage to bury his face in his hands and groan loudly. It was going to be a long night.

**Streets of Konoha**

The orange haired jounin waved his hands and planted a false cheery smile as his guards escorted him through the crowded streets of Konoha. Every corner of the streets was filled with people to the point where they spilled out onto their path, all waving and cheering. Of course, none of them knew about the truth of why the Cloud delegates were actually here. Only the shinobi population was privy to such information at this point in time.

In the civilian's eyes, the Cloud negotiator had been sent here to talk about peace after years of open hostility with Konoha. Of course, the truth of the matter was that the Cloud delegates were here to ensure that Konaha would not seek further retaliation on the weakened lightening village at any cost.

The orange haired man and his group of escorts continued through the crowd until they had arrived at the Hokage's office where the elderly Konoha village leader stood smiling and waving at the lightening negotiators. This too was also just a show for the civilians to maintain the false image of peace between the shinobi villages.

The Lightening delegate knew that inside the crowd were dozens of alert jounin and chunnin in disguise, waiting to pounce if they made a single wrong move. The masked Anbu littered the rooftops of nearby buildings, watching and fingering their weapons, ready to react in an instant at the first sign of trouble.

Walking up to the Hokage, the dark eyed man smiled through clenched teeth. "Hokage-sama I hope I find you in good health?" Sarutobi smirked back indulgently having played this role countless times in the past.

"I am well, and I too hope I find you in good health?" Grinning horribly, the ginger haired man forced a laugh through his strained mouth.

"I am well. Shall we?" The Hokage nodded and indicated the way into the tower before stepping inside. Giving one last wave to the enthusiastic if a bit naïve civilian population, the lightening delegate and his four guards walked in after the Hokage. All five of them froze when they recognized the short blonde figure standing besides the elderly Kage.

There was no mistaking that mask with its very identifiable cross shaped scar etched smoothly into its otherwise spotless ivory surface. The dark eyed man glared at the Hokage's companion as his guards drew their weapons with ferocious snarls and scowls.

"What is the meaning of this?" thundered Jinzo. The Third blinked innocently as dozens of Anbu dropped down around the hostile group of Lightening shinobi. Sarutobi raised his hand to halt the advancing Anbu and placed his other hand onto Naruto's tensed shoulder.

"What is he doing here?!" demanded the Jinzo.

"Naruto is one of my most trusted subordinate, and so naturally I would have him here to guard me from any…surprises if you will. I hope you do not find his presence…" the Third searched for the right word, "distracting." The glare he received would have shaken even an experienced jounin, but he was not known as the god of shinobi for no reason.

As the Hokage stared down Jinzo, Naruto spoke up softly. "I have been meaning to ask you this." Jinzo broke his staring contest with the Hokage in favor of glaring at the one who demolished his village. "It seems I misplaced some of my exploding tags, I hope they did not find their way back into your village." His sincere tone of voice only served to further infuriate the delegate and his companions, as they were forced to remember the explosion that had claimed the lives of 2 shinobi and 6 nearby civilians.

Grinding his teeth together, the delegate took a steadying breath to abate his anger. "A simple mistake anyone could make I'm sure." His face contorted into a twisted smile. "Let us continue to the conference shall we?" It had taken everything not to lunge forward and strangle the little brat, but he reminded himself that the welfare of the village lay in his hands.

The Third Hokage smirked slightly before continuing his casual stroll down towards the conference room 2 floors below the tower in a reinforced steel bunker.

**4 hours and 32 minutes later **

Jinzo felt a throbbing headache building up slowly; not the slow rhythmic pounding of a migraine, but the sharp stabbing of a dull kunai trying to break through his skull. So far, the negotiations had gone entirely in the Leaf village's favor. Already he had to concede 25 percent of all mined minerals to the Leaf village, give up three of their minor trade routes and one major one. Plus he had to agree to forking over some of the missions they would not be able to complete due to their decimated shinobi force.

Nearly one fifth of their forces had been out right killed in the fight with the berserk hunter-nin following the death of the Raikage. Scores had been injured and incapacitated while trying to subdue X. But the real problem had been the fires Naruto had set off with the explosive tags during his daring escape. Nearly a third of the remaining shinobi forces had been injured of killed trying to put out the fires and saving trapped civilians. The ninja of Cloud were not very proficient with water jutsus due to the lack of water in their environments. Every single fire had been put out either with man power, or they had simply died out when nothing could fuel the flames any longer. The windy conditions following Naruto's village wide arson did not help the situation at all.

The civilian population had suffered greatly during the now coined "Two Days of Hell Fire", but it wasn't until after the smoke died out that they realized how deep in shit they were. Literally. The sewage system had been completely destroyed leaving the village with no way to efficiently remove the human waste that was building up as the time passed.

Farming was a near impossible task on the rocky terrain the village had been found on, so most of their staple had been traded in and kept in storage houses. Most of them had been burned down leaving the surviving villagers to slowly die of starvation. Almost all of the wooden buildings had been burnt beyond salvation, leaving the majority of the population homeless.

So far there had been no outbreak of disease, a miracle in itself seeing as people were forced to sleep next to the hundreds of dead bodies left unattended to in the aftermath of the fires. But it was only a matter of time with the buildup of human feces not to mention the hundreds of dead bodies that lay rotting and decaying in the street and buried under burnt piles of ruble.

Jinzo's eyes narrowed slightly as he studied the Hokage's two guards. One was Hunter-X, the one responsible for the Cloud village's current situation. The other was the famous copy-ninja, said to have copied over a thousand techniques, including many Cloud secrets. The former Anbu commander was currently reading a small orange book which had him giggling and blushing in the most unprofessional manner. Naruto standing on the left of the Hokage was the exact opposite of his fellow guard.

Unlike his slouching partner, the blonde stood rigidly with his back straight and his arms crossed stiffly behind his back. He had barely moved at all since the beginning of the negotiations, only a slight twitch of his head every time Jinzo was about to make a demand. This had unnerved the man slightly, but he had plowed on each time, if in a less impressive manner then he had hoped.

The Hokage had agreed to send in the Leaf village's surplus of food, not exactly a generous offer considering the fact that each season tons of food was left to rot simply because Konoha couldn't consume or trade as much as they produced. The elderly man had also pledged the Cloud financial aid, and also a company of carpenters to help rebuild their village providing that Cloud was willing to pay the carpenters.

All in all, Jinzo knew that the Hokage was being lenient, and could have demanded much more. But the war time alliance Sarutobi was now asking for was simply asking too much so soon after such a tragedy wrought by one of the Leaf"s own shinobi. It would be many years, long after Naruto had died, before Lightening could truly forget the Two Days of Hell Fire.

"I am sorry Lord Hokage, but we simply cannot even consider such an alliance." His pointed glare at the blonde standing behind the Hokage made his point quite obvious. The Third sighed audibly.

'I knew that was asking for too much, but it was worth a shot I guess.' "Very well then, would you consider a pact of neutrality at least?"

Jinzo tapped his chin thoughtfully. In the shinobi world, a pack of neutrality was basically a staring contest. Both sides would remain motionless staring that the other making sure they too didn't make any suspicious moves. Of course as soon as someone blinked shots would be fired and the call for war would soon shatter any alliance they may have had.

The orange haired delegate narrowed his eyes as an idea formed in his mind. A sinister smile grew unknowingly onto his face. "Very well Hokage-sama." Sarutobi blinked in surprise. This was very unexpected. He had been prepared for at least a few hours of argument coupled with a few subtle threats of war before such an agreement could be reached. "I will sign your pact of neutrality on the condition that he," Jinzo pointed an accusing finger at Naruto, "is handed over to Cloud custody."

The Third close his eyes in exasperation. 'Should have seen that one coming.' "No." Undaunted Jinzo nodded, also expecting that answer, but prepared to argue.

"You do not seem to understand Hokage-sama," Sarutobi raised an eyebrow, "he has utterly destroyed our village. We are still counting the number of people killed by his actions." The hate filled glare spoke volumes on the opinion Jinzo held for Naruto.

"Nothing short of his head on a platter will ever smooth over the relation between Cloud and Leaf." The Third sighed and rubbed his temples slowly. Narrowing his eyes, Sarutobi glared at the Lightening delegate before speaking in a low and very dangerous voice.

"You are in no place to make such demands Jinzo-san." The aged man's threatening presence had even Naruto taken aback. "You seemed to have forgotten that Cloud is at our mercy, and it is through our kindness that you are even here negotiating. I could very well end this negotiation and announce war." The old man's piercing gaze seemed to bore holes into Jinzo's head. "Trust me when I say that your country will not win."

Jinzo's resolve seem to wilt before the Hokage's angry gaze, and he took a moment to compose himself. Mulling over Sarutobi's words, the dark eyed jounin realized that they held a certain truth in them. Cloud would be in danger from other village's seeking this opportunity to invade the weakened village. If Konoha was to outright declare war, there would be no fight. It would be like attacking a comatose cripple with a club.

"You must understand Hokage-sama, his continued existence" spat out Jinzo, "will be an insult to my dead people's memory.

"Oh?" questioned Sarutobi. "Naruto here is the container to the Nine-Tailed fox as I'm sure you know, and even though our village was devastated by its attack, we still have yet to hang Naruto to ensure the death of Kyuubi." 'Not that they didn't try.'

Jinzo continued to glare at the blonde for a good minute before he relented. "Alright then I want him to at least be removed from the list of Leaf shinobi. And he is to never be allowed to return to active duty." Sarutobi considered for a moment before he smiled. It was not the friendly one most people were accustomed to.

"Agreed." Kakashi nearly dropped the book he was holding.

"Lord Hokage! You cannot seriously consider removing Naruto from the shinobi forces!" Said blonde clamped his hands onto the cycloptic ninja's wrist in a firm hold before shaking his head at the man's look of disbelief.

Already the Hokage had written down the condition on the treaty sheet. With a quick flourish, he signed his name and passed it over to Jinzo. The dark eyed man stared down hard at the passage, looking for any loopholes. Finding none, he penned his name down in satisfaction thinking he had put an end to Hunter-X's short if illustrious career. "Done!"

**Shinobi lounge**

Murmurs ran through the crowd. Rumors were running wildly about ranging from Konaha taking over Cloud to Naruto being taken in as the new Raikage of Cloud. The most prominent one however was that Hunter-X had finally been discharged and would not be allowed to continue his career as a shinobi. The loudest rumors tended to lean towards the truth, and a very agitated Anko was tapping a foot impatiently waiting for either her brother or the Hokage to arrive.

When Naruto finally appeared in a puff of smoke, the provocatively dressed young woman rushed over followed closely by Asuma and Kurenai. The other ninja's backed away from the blonde. This guy had wiped out the Cloud shinobi forces by himself, same village or not, nobody wanted to get too close. "Is it true?" the assembled shinobi force quieted down to hear the blonde's reply. "Are you being discharged?"

For a moment there was an ominous silence as all the shinobi present leaned forward to hear his answer. "Yes." A slight uproar swept through the lounge as chaos broke out over the mob. Opinions were mixed ranging from anger on Naruto's behalf, to smug looks that said "I told you so". But what everyone felt was apprehension. After all, if X could be the sacrificial goat for the village, any one of them could be next.

"They can't do that!" hollered Anko as Asuma sucked at his cigarette furiously and Kurenai shook her head. "He can't just take you off like that after all you did for this damn village!" Anko seemed to be channeling any outrage Naruto wasn't showing because the killing intent rolling off her body had even seasoned veterans like Gai and Kakashi edging away; slowly of course. Nobody wanted to attract her attention with any sudden movements.

The ever impassive Naruto simply shrugged before looking away. "Have a little faith Anko. I'm sure our lord Hokage has a plan" Asuma snorted. "And even if he doesn't," continued Naruto, "I will comply with our lord's will." All three jounin sighed at their young companion's blind unfaltering loyalty towards Sarutobi.

A blossom of smoke clouded the center of the stage, and the old regal Hokage stepped out as the blinding cloud faded. Immediately the crowd began firing questions at their leader. Wavig his hand for silence, the Third waited for the shouts to die down before speaking. 'Wish it were this easy with the council.'

"As I am sure you have all heard, we have signed a treaty with cloud." He went on to explain all the benefits Konoha had gained and all the things they had promised to send to Cloud. A great cheer broke out from the crowd and Naruto received more then a few hearty slaps to his back. The cheers down after a few minutes, and the throng of ninja became silent once more to listen to the Hokage.

"And as I'm sure you've also heard, our pact of neutrality did not come without a price." Sarutobi's face turned solemn as he looked over to Naruto. "Naruto you can no longer carry on your duties as a hunter-nin." Cries of outrage spread through the crowd, but loudest of all was a certain green clad taijutsu master.

"HOKAGE-SAMA! Surely you will not let Naruto-kun's flames of youth die out so early!" Maito Gai's proclamation would not be the way most would word it, but there were many nods of agreement from the gathered shinobi.

The Hokage ignored the eccentric taijutsu user's outcry but instead beckoned to Naruto. "Naruto please come here." The throng of shinobi jostled about as a path was opened to allow the blonde passage to the Leaf Kage. The hunter-nin walked calmly up to the stage not once showing concern for the fact that he was going to lose his job.

Sarutobi faced his young subordinate grimly before speaking out loud. "As of today, Uzumaki Naruto you are hereby stripped of your rank of hunter-nin." An angry buzz fell over the crowd resembling that of an angry hornet's nest. "I hereby relieve you of all duties as a hunter-nin of the village of Konoha." The buzzing grew louder. "But I would not lose one of leaf's most promising ninja so easily." Confused muttering met the Hokage's statement. The noise died down after a few seconds and the Hokage smiled at the unmoving blonde. "I have signed you up for the genin academy." Questions spilled silently from gaping mouths at the unexpected announcement. The elderly man raised his hand to indicate for silence.

"Our agreement states that you are to be stripped of your title of hunter-nin and that you are never to return to active service list" here the old man's smile took on a more mischievous quality giving him impish look. "However, you were never a part of the active service list and as such; you will only be entering it for the first time when you graduate from the academy."

Whispers flushed through the mob as looks changed to elated or disappointed depending on the person's opinion of Naruto. "It is not a time of war, so I cannot simply promote you based on your skill level. I'm afraid you will have to work your way through the ranks like everyone else." People shivered as memories of horrifying D rank missions came to mind. "You will not be permitted to return to the hunter-nin task force until the treaty is broken or otherwise nullified by another agreement." Looking over at the still immobile blonde, he waved his hand at the crowd of ninjas. "Dismissed."

Chattering filled the small room as shinobi left the building in groups and pairs all talking about the recent turn of events with many chuckling as they imagined the stoic hunter-nin's reaction to D ranked missions in comparison to his perfect record of C, B, A, and S classed operations he was used to.

Anko pushed and elbowed her way forward as Kurenai and Asuma hung back only to be joined by the porn reading Cyclops and his fashion sense challenged self proclaimed rival. The Hokage looked down at the blonde and patted his shoulder in a fatherly fashion. "Meet me in my office at 0700. I'll have the papers ready by then."

Naruto nodded at his leader wordlessly committing the orders to memory. The Third shuddered slightly as he remembered his own list of D ranked missions. God knows he did not envy Naruto. The blonde now ex-hunter-nin leapt off the stage to meet his sister who promptly put him in a playful headlock. Staggering slightly and struggling to get himself out of Anko's strangle hold he growled slightly as he heard the soft chuckle of his sister's shinobi friends.

"You know what this means?" laughed Anko. Naruto grunted and continued struggling half heartedly. She'd let go once she made her point. "I get to pull rank on you!" The raven haired kunoichi gave her little brother's head a few more tugs before letting go.

Straightening out and trying to regain his lost dignity, Naruto shrugged his shoulders dispassionately. "Officially speaking, I never held rank at all in the shinobi system, so you were always of a higher rank then I was." The indecently dressed woman pouted slightly before laughing again.

"Yeah, but now it's official!" Lunging forward, she put him in another headlock and dragged his struggling form over to the chuckling jounins waiting by the door.

"Don't worry Naruto" the bearded jounin lit another cigarette whilst trying to ignore Kurenai's disapproving glare. "I'm sure you'll come to enjoy genin life." The jounins in the group shared a meaningful look.

"Good times" murmured Kakashi over his book. Everyone with the exception of Naruto burst out into laughter earning a confused look from the blonde.

'Wonder what they mean?'

The Kyuubi shook his head in despair when his host did not realize they were laughing at his expense. **"I'm sure you'll understand real soon kit." 'You are intellegent Naruto, but dense as a rock when it comes to being human.'**

**AN: Well that was nowhere as good as I hoped it would be, but I seemed to be over my slight writer's block. Read and send me your thoughts. Next chapter will be about academy life, and of course the bell test if I can squeeze it in.**


	11. So you want to be a genin?

**AN: A sorry for the long wait, nearly a month!! I've been up to my neck in crap dealing with college and classes so updates have been slow. Good news is that I'm already halfway through the next chapter, bad news is school is about to start so I'm going to be working my ass off either way.**

**I've realized that I haven't exactly been as clear about the story as I would have liked, so here is a small clarification of things you may have found confusing or not matching with the manga or anime. So here is a clarification of power levels in comparison to the tailed beasts.**

**A Kage has around two to three tails worth of power. A Kage in his prime would have around 3 where as Sarutobi has only 2 due to his age. The fourth Hokage was the exception to my rule and I estimate him around 4 tails of power. The Sannin in their prime had around 3 tails of power as well. Jiraiya has fallen between the 2-3 tails worth where as Orochimaru is only as powerful as his container which he trains personally. Tsunade after years of disuse has only 2 tails worth of power. A boss summon of the sannin's would have around 1 tail of power. Now Naruto has around 2 tails of power, perhaps slightly more. You however might remember that in his assault on the Raikage, Kyuubi mentions that he has already borrowed one tail of power and can't take any more without losing control over his actions. In my story unlike the manga or anime, Naruto can only draw upon as much power as he himself possess, meaning at best he can only double his power. Any more and he loses control of his actions and he won't remember what happens. Now you may ask why Kyuubi could only lend one tail of power to Naruto during his fight with the Raikage after all according to my logic he should have been able to draw upon 2 tails without too much trouble right? But there is a good explanation for that too. Remember the Kage bunshin Naruto left behind on the wall that later comes in and frees him from torture? Kage bunshin splits ones power in half and the amount of power given to a bunshin can't be controlled. Naruto fought the Raikage at half power whiles doubling up his chakra with the Kyuubi's making him somewhere around the 2 tails. Kakashi is an elite jounin, the best in the village after the Hokage himself with the exception of Naruto. He rates around half a tail of power. A normal jounin has somewhere around only a quarter of a tail of power. But you must remember that power isn't everything, if you have crap control like Naruto, he would still have trouble taking down someone like Kakashi who can use his smaller chakra stores in a much more efficient rate. Genin and chunnin don't even rate on the tailed power radar so I won't mention them. Confused? I am lol. Ask me anything u are confused with, or point out any lapses in logics that my story may contain, but keep in mind that this is a fanfiction! Don't send me reviews telling me how the anime Naruto works, cause this **_**is based entirely on my own logic**_**! I will try to reply to inquiries to my thought process.**

**I have more shit to explain but I'll wait until later when it becomes necessary to understand the story.**

**Hokage's Office**

At exactly 7 a.m., the expected announcement for the arrival of Naruto drifted in through the wooden doors of the Hokage's office. The old man had been up since 5, giving himself time to shower, eat, and warm up before settling into his comfortable but hated routine of signing papers.

The door opened without a sound, admitting the blonde shinobi and a very amused looking Anko. "Anko-chan, what brings you to my office at this hour?" Normally, the woman wouldn't report in until 8 or 9, which was much better then Kakashi's anytime before 6 in the afternoon. The uncharacteristically happy Anko mussed up her younger companion's blond hair as an answer much to Naruto's annoyance.

"His first day at the academy, thought I'd drop him off." The former hunter-nin scoffed as his sister broke out into a fit of snickering.

"If I can find my way into a hostile village, I'm sure I can get into my classroom without much trouble." The Hokage and Anko both laughed slightly at the miffed blonde's retort.

Sarutobi reached into his piles of paperwork and pulled out a form without even glancing at it. Signing his name on the top dotted line, he beckoned for the blonde to come over and sign on the second line.

A few steps forward and a quick scrawl with the pen and the deal was done. Scanning the document and making sure everything was in order, the Hokage nodded once before reaching over for the seal sitting by the desk light. Pressing the stamp into the inkpad once, Sarutobi slammed it down decisively on the document approving its contents with the seal of the Hokage indicating that it had been read by the village leader.

Placing the document in the out box, which seemed very empty compared to the huge pile of papers resting in the in box, the Hokage pulled out a plank piece of paper and scribbled a quick note before signing his name. Looking up, he let his eyes travel to the standing blonde, and the inpatient kunoichi in the background who was tapping her foot in time to her pulse.

'Am I doing the right thing?' he wondered. 'Is Naruto suited for the life of a genin?'

"Hey old man did you have a heart attack and die or something?!" Shaken out of his thoughts by the impatient Anko's grumbling, the Third banished the answerless questions to the back of his mind. Time would tell. Handing over the note to the hunter-nin, or rather the academy cadet the Hokage reminded himself with great amusement.

"The room number is 103 and the sensei's name is Iruka. The genin exam is tomorrow, but I would like you to attend class today anyways." Not understanding why his leader insisted on him going to class on the second to last day, but nonetheless willing to take orders, Naruto bowed to the Hokage before turning back to Anko and preparing to leave.

The dark haired woman slung a hand over his shoulder and steered him quickly out of the stifling room while throwing a one handed wave at the Hokage who was already signing papers again. "Come on runt, class starts at 8:00 if I remember right, so we have time for some grub!" The blonde nodded wordlessly at his sister's suggestion as they continued down the stairs leading back to the bustling streets of the awakening Konoha.

**Classroom 103**

Iruka was a patient man. In fact, compared to some people, they could call him an angel blessed saint. His job however would no doubt leave angels tearing out their hair whiles screaming obscenities and cussing in the name of god. Taking a deep slow steadying breath, the academy teacher let it all out in the hopes of calming the raging headache he felt building up.

The scarred man felt a twitch pulsing under his eyes as he tried to calmly and not to mention in vain make himself heard over the noise the class was making. As usual, the many female members of the class, with the exception of a certain shy Hyuuga sitting in the top left corner, were fawning loudly over a brooding dark haired Uchiha.

Sasuke was not a bad student, in fact if he had to choose, Iruka had to say he was the best out of the entire class. True, his attitude needed a little working (ok understatement of the century), but unlike some of his other male classmates, he preferred to angst in silence rather then cause trouble. But honestly speaking, Iruka would give his left arm to have that boy kicked out of his class.

The female sex between the age of 8 and 20 simply seemed to lose all common sense or sanity if you prefer, when they were within a 20 foot radius of the last loyal Uchiha. Or when they happened to lay eyes on him. Or when they were near an object the Uchiha had used or touched. Or when their thoughts just happened to stray to the brooding lad. Ok so they were all insane, but none were as loud and obtrusive as Yamanaka Ino and her rival/former best friend Haruno Sakura.

These two were banshees from hell as Kiba called them, and though he would rather die then say it out loud, Iruka secretly agreed. The blonde Yamanaka was one of the top kunoichi in the class, ranking in the top 3 in all forms of the shinobi art. She seemed to have a good grasp on her family mind techniques, but rarely trained in favor of stalking Sasuke.

Sakura was also competing in the top 3 bracket out of all the kunoichi in the class, though she tended to occupy the bottom of the top 3. She excelled at genjutsu and over all knowledge, but only slightly above average in terms of ninjutsu taijutsu and weapon usage. No matter how stealthy any of these girls may have been, Iruka knew the minute Sasuke showed his face, they would blow their covers in favor of getting his attention.

The pink haired kunoichi in training showed a great control over her chakra, but any praise she may have received was counteracted by the pathetically low stores of said chakra. Even for a genin, her stores of chakra were pathetically low.

The one kunoichi that could truly be called the best in the class in Iruka's opinion was the shy and timid Hyuuga heiress. She showed no aggression unlike her other female peers, but if push came to shove, she could kick ass. You don't grow up as the Hyuuga heiress without learning a thing or two about the art of ass kicking, and though she didn't look it, Iruka knew Hinata was very good at it. Kiba could testify, seeing as he had once on a dare grabbed Hinata's butt. After the ass whipping that left the Inuzaka unconscious and his dog whimpering in the corner of the room, Hinata was never made fun of again for being weird.

Kiba insists till this day that it had been worth it, even the beating he took from the two chunin Hyuuga's that had later cornered him in the alleyway on the way home. Turning his gaze to the loud and obnoxious dog user, Iruka smiled and shook his head as he listened to the ridiculous boasts coming from the boy's mouth. Some day that was going to get him killed. The parka wearing Inuzaka was excellent at ninjutsu and taijutsu. Even Sasuke couldn't beat Kiba easily in a straight on fist fight. His skills in every other aspect were average, and already he showed signs of a potentially legendary tracker.

While musing about the skills of the Inuzaka, Iruka's eyes drifted over to what some of the kids called the reject table. Sitting there was the ever silent Aburame Shino. Next to him in the middle sat the ever sleeping Nara Shikamaru, and to his right sat his best friend, the ever eating Akamichi Choji.

Those 3 were always seen doing the same thing, a stabilizing constant in a classroom full of ever changing miscreants. Shino would best be described as mute, but deadly. Unlike the shy Hyuuga who was always blushing and stuttering, the Aburame heir never spoke out loud. Even Iruka could not honestly remember the last time the glasses wearing boy had spoken.

His grades as expected of a clan heir was excellent in all subjects and he would become a strong and reliable shinobi by all signs he gave as a cadet. The Nara boy on the other hand, was at best a failure. Iruka suspected that under the lazy façade laid a sleeping genius waiting to awaken during the right set of circumstances. Every skill Shikamaru possessed was below average, but by no means was he dead last. No, there was some other nameless idiot that could proudly claim that title, but there is no need to introduce him since he won't be passing the genin exam with Anko.

The fat Akamichi rarely spoke unless spoken to, and if ever he was seen without a bag of chips or some other snack in hand, it was best to run to the nearest shelter and crawl under a bed to await the coming fires of apocalypse. Overall, Choji's skills were average, but he excelled at taijutsu due to his clans trademark techniques. God forbid if anyone ever called him fat within hearing distance, even Iruka doubted he would be able to stop the boy if it came to that. Otherwise, he was as lazy as the Nara that was his closest friend. Well only friend really, but that's a sad story for another day.

As he continued to assess his class, Iruka came to the conclusion that though many would pass, outside of the eight he had specifically named, it was doubtful any would become real genin once they took their jounin's chosen test. "All right class, settle down!"

The class took this as a signal to get louder. "_Hey shut the fuck up you little asswipes_!!" the class stared down at their sensei in utter shocked silence. Iruka let out a happy sigh.

Blinking he realized that he had been daydreaming again and proceeded to yell at the top of his lungs, "SHUT UP!!" The senseless chattered faded away. "Now I know all of you are excited for the upcoming genin exams." A quiet mumbling broke out again. "But this is no time to slack we will be practicing the henge, bunshin and kawarimi in preparation for tomorrow!"

The class groaned as one upon hearing their teacher's announcement. Rummaging in his desk to look for the roll call sheet, Iruka allowed his thoughts to wander as he called out the names mechanically and ticking them off when he heard the responding "here". Unconsciously his mind drifted to the meeting they had yesterday where the head chunnin instructor had announced that a new student would be arriving in time to graduate with the senior class members.

'Wonder which unlucky motherfucker got saddled with the new kid.' Iruka face faulted as he heard a polite knock at the door. 'Oh hell no' "Come in." The class's mumbling died away as the door swung open. 'Son of a bitch.'

At the doorway stood a short blonde figure Iruka vaguely recognized from somewhere. Smiling away his inner cursing, the man glared at his chattering class before asking though he had already guessed what this was about. "Can I help you?"

"Are you Iruka?" The dry toneless voice sent a shudder through Iruka's body.

'Oh yeah.' The blonde had seemed familiar and with good reason too. Iruka wasn't likely to forget the kids kill record even if he didn't recognize the killer himself. 298 confirmed kills and god knows how many in Cloud was nothing to sneeze at. "Hai, I am Iruka."

The short masked blonde walked over and handed Iruka a note wordlessly. A quick glance at the loopy scrawl that could only belong to the Sadaime had Iruka sighing to himself internally as his worst fear was confirmed. He got the new kid. And apparently, the new kid could slaughter the entire academy and all its occupants on a bad day without too much trouble. Crumpling up the note and nodding at the unmoving Naruto he waved his hand in the air for silence from the talking class.

"Class, I want you to welcome Uzumaki Naruto, your new classmate." Again the room filled with chatter, this time with a hint of curiosity in it. What kind of idiot joined class a day before the final exam? And what was with the mask? "Why don't you take a seat next to Hinata Naruto?"

A quiet eep sounded from the shy girl as her sensei pointed at the empty seat to her right. Unlike most her classmates, the Hyuuga heiress knew exactly who the new kid was. It's hard to forget someone who breaks down you front door carrying the body of you dead kin in the middle of the night. Let's just say Hinata was even more nervous then usual when Naruto made his way up the stairs and took his seat next to her.

Iruka began his lecture about the genin exams taking place the next day, and most of the class tuned him out. Hinata turned to the boy sitting next to her and bravely initiated conversation. "Ah he-hel-hello. I'm Hyuu-uuga Hinata." The girl cheered silently for herself when she managed to get her greeting out in an understandable fashion. Speech therapy was working!

"Uzumaki Naruto." The short terse reply killed any chance the introduction had of blossoming into a real conversation as Hinata lost her nerve due to the blonde's bland answer.

'His voice is so cold.' Naruto allowed his eyes to wander through the classroom once it became apparent Hinata had used up all her courage in one day. He did not pay attention to a word the chunnin was saying, having long since mastered the skills necessary to pass. Profiling each of the students based on their actions and attire, Naruto wondered about the future of Konoha.

'If this is our future shinobi force, we're in trouble.' He curled his lip in disgust as a boy in red picked his nose near the front of the room where Iruka was valiantly trying not to stare at the stomach turning scene. A tinge of green colored the instructor's face as the 12 year old shoved a booger covered finger into his mouth.

"**My god that kids going to shove his fist up his nostrils!" **exclaimed the horrified Kyuubi. "**You humans do the most disgusting things." **Looking elsewhere so as not to lose his breakfast, his eyes met those of the Inuzaka. The boy with the dog on his head waved lazily at the blonde prompting a nod of acknowledgement in return. A few caught the exchange between the troublemaker and the new kid and wondered how the brash Inuzaka could know someone so composed.

**Brunch 10:25 a.m.**

"Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun!" Girls crowded around the Uchiha as Iruka dismissed the class for their daily 15 minute break. Offers ranging from eating lunch together to eloping and having children were thrown at poor Sasuke as he made his way over to Kiba.

The last Uchiha literally had to wade through a sea of drooling adolescent girls before he found himself next to the Kiba who was currently talking loudly to a chewing Choji and half listening Shikamaru. Shino just happened to be there, and from how still he sat he was either sleeping or had died without anyone noticing. Oh wait his chest was moving, he's still alive, false alarm.

A sixth sense warned Sasuke to leap out the side window, but he was one step too slow; so much for the great Uchiha reflex. Ino and Sakura both managed to grab one of his arms, and a silent tug-of-war began with Sasuke as both the rope and the prize. Shaking both girls off he tapped Kiba's shoulder to get his attention, stopping the boy in mid boast. Seeing that it was Sasuke, Kiba grumbled slightly as Akamaru whined from the loud noises the two girls made.

"What do you want Sasuke? You wanna fight?!" he demanded. The raven haired Uchiha rolled his eyes at Kiba's challenge.

'Like he could beat me' "You seem to know the new kid. Who is he?" Ino and Sakura stopped their argument in the background and came closer to hear Kiba's answer.

"Who Naruto?" Shikamaru sighed upon hearing the question.

"Is there any other new kid here?" Shikamaru's tone of voice obviously conveyed what everyone with the exception of Kiba thought.

'Idiot!' The tattooed boy scratched his cheek sheepishly as he realized what a dumb question that was.

"His name is Uzumaki Naruto. I don't know what a guy like him is doing at the academy seeing as he's a hunter-nin." Those children from ninja clans gasped at they recognized the highly prestigious title where as Sakura voiced her confusion.

"Hunter-nin?" Sasuke looked intrigued as he waited for an answer. Having his family annihilated before his clan education began; Sasuke was as clueless as Sakura.

It was Ino who answered in the hushed silence following Sasuke's question. "Hunter-nins are the elite amongst the elite. Konoha's Anbu is divided into 3 sections, Village Defense, the ones we see patrolling Konoha, Elite Mission Holders, those that take on the toughest missions." A hushed silence had fallen as Ino continued explaining "And finally the Hunter-nins. They are charged with the duty of retrieval or destruction of Konoha's fallen shinobi so as not to let the secrets of our village fall into enemy hands. They also hunt down renegade shinobi that have defected from villages. Hunters often have to journey deep into enemy territory in order to obtain the bodies of fallen Konoha ninja, and combined with their job of hunting down criminals from the hidden villages, they have the most dangerous job of all."

Shikamaru grunted as he began adding to Ino's summary of the inner workings of Anbu. "The first two divisions Ino explained are a joint unit. Each Anbu is given a mission to complete, and during the course of the mission they are the Elite Mission Holder. Once they complete their mission whether it be success or failure, they are given time off once they return to the village to recuperate. They are then shifted into the Village Defense sector. And once they have sufficiently recovered, they return to active duty."

The pineapple haired boy propped his head of on an arm on his desk. "Hunter-nins are not a part of this work and rest process as there are so few of them, and so they often work continuously with small breaks in-between missions rather then the mission break mission break pattern most Anbu have. It's why most Hunter-nins retire after 6 years of work. Nobody can really handle the stress involved for long." His bored explanation had cast a new light onto the situation.

Perhaps Naruto had retired from the hunter-nin force? But then why was he at the academy? Sasuke mulled over these thoughts as he processed all he had heard. "So how does a mutt like you know someone like him?"

Kiba shrugged in reply to Sasuke's question. "My sis joined the hunter-nin force a few years back. He's dropped by my place a few times to talk or spar with her." The other 4 boys present felt their manhoods twitch at the mention of Kiba's sister. Damn she was hot. Yes, even Sasuke had a slight crush on her at one point in his life, and if he was honest with himself, that crush hadn't gone away.

"Hey Hinata!" The girl who was sitting alone at the top of the classroom blushed slightly as Kiba brought the other's attention on her. "You know who he is?"

Slowly placing down the rice ball she had been nibbling at, she nodded her head. "Hi-his co-ode name is Hu-unter X." Another gasp left Ino's mouth, and Shino seemed to sit up a little straighter.

"No…" whispered the Yamanaka. "The Hunter-X?" Hinata nodded again.

"What is it pig?" questioned Sakura curiously. She had never seen her rival so shocked, not even when they had gotten Hinata to admit she had used her Byakugan to check out Iruka-Sensei ass.

Shino pushed his glasses a little further up his nose before speaking. Everyone went stock still in shock as they heard the Aburame's voice. "Hunter-X is one of our village's most well-known hunter-nins. He has been in service for close to 5 years and already he is ranked as one of the top three most fearsome bounty hunters in the elemental nations. If what I have heard is true, he has never failed a mission and never missed a target he set out to eliminate."

The future members of the rookie nine stared at each other as they digested the Aburame's description of the new kid. "Wait." Sakura shook her head slightly. "If he's so good, what's he doing here?" The pink haired girl sounded skeptical as she addressed the bug user.

'There's no way some kid our age can be stronger then Sasuke-kun." **"Damn straight!" **yelled inner Sakura.

The stoic Aburame shrugged. "Perhaps he is on a mission."

Kiba snorted in reply. "In this dump? The only mission here is unclogging the damn toilet on the second floor! Who could he possible be after at the academy?" Again Shino shrugged without replying.

Sasuke felt a slow smile tug at his lips as the other boys broke out into argument. 'Finally, a truly worthy challenge.' Sprinting towards the door he headed for the courtyard where most the students hung out during break.

"Sasuke-kun!" shouted Sakura and Ino in sync. Glaring at each other, both girls rushed out the door in a mad dash after their idol.

"Where's he off in such a rush?" grumbled Kiba.

"No doubt to challenge Uzumaki to a fight. How troublesome." Three guesses as to who said that and the first two don't count. Kiba burst out laughing so hard his dog fell off his head and landed with an indignant bark. "Come on Akamaru! Let's go see the teme get his ass kicked!"

The master and loyal dog rushed out the door. Choji looked questioningly at his Nara friend who sighed back. "How troublesome." They both stood up to follow in a more leisurely pace leaving Shino and Hinata behind.

Without a word the Aburame stood up. "Coming?" his mouth was blocked from view due to his coat, and had there been anyone else in the room, Hinata would not have suspected the question had come from Shino. Nodding her head shyly, Hyuuga followed the silent Aburame out the room to the courtyard.

**Courtyard**

Ignoring the army of girls chattering behind him, Sasuke scanned the sparring area looking for the masked boy. Spotting him seated cross-legged next to a tree, Sasuke sized up his opponent. He didn't look exceptionally dangerous; in fact had he not been wearing a mask Sasuke would have dismissed the new kid altogether. The blonde was dressed in dark brown cargo pants with a standard issued shuriken holster taped over his right leg. A supply pouch hung from his waist, and was slightly covered by the white long sleeved shirt Naruto was wearing.

With the mask in place, it was hard to tell whether he was observing the sky or sleeping. Deciding to find out, Sasuke sauntered over as casually as possible followed by a group of fan girls led by Ino and Sakura. When they neared the masked blonde tilted his head to face them indicating that he was indeed awake. "Can I help you?"

His toneless voice coupled with the creepy blank mask sent a shiver through the girls and most of them backed off leaving only Ino and Sakura behind Sasuke. Letting out a sigh of relief as his fangirls retreated from the masked blonde, Sasuke found himself envying his opponents ability to scare off the crazed girls. 'Maybe I should wear a mask too.'

"Fight me." The simple two words that left his lips would have scared any other academy student, with the exception of perhaps Shino and Kiba, hardly moved the blonde.

"No." Naruto's reply was as short and blunt as Sasuke's challenge. By this time, Kiba and the others had arrived and was standing with the pink and blonde haired fangirls.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Scared?" he sneered, trying to provoke his opponent.

"Hardly." Sasuke could hear a telltale hint of amusement in the seated boy's answer and felt anger stirring in his chest

"Then why?" Naruto returned to his vigilant gaze back to the clouds he had been watching.

"It is hardly worth the effort of fighting someone so inferior in skill." Kiba snickered as he watched Sasuke's face redden slightly from anger.

"You can't talk to Sasuke-kun like that!" shouted Ino.

"Yeah!" her pink haired rival chimed up. "What she-" A sudden crushing force silenced her and dropped her to her knees. Next to her, the other kids also fell into similar kneeling positions panting and gasping with the exception of Shino of course. He was too dignified to pant. Or sweat for that matter.

"Quiet." Naruto growled. "The volume of your voice gates my sensitive hearing." Kiba would have laughed if he didn't feel like he was having an asthma attack. Slowly, the feeling lifted and the kids stoop up shakily, once again with the exception of Shino who was already on his feet, albeit breathing a bit more heavily then usual.

'Just like Itachi!' thought Sasuke shakily. He had felt the ominous force before on the night his brother had slaughtered his clan, and the repeated experience lit a fire in his soul. Charging forward, the dark haired Uchiha snapped a kick at the seated blonde's head. His unexpected movement seemed like a blur to the on looking spectators.

Naruto's hand shot up even faster. To the other children it seemed like his hand had simply appeared right on top of Sasuke's leg, clamping down in a hard grip. The few taijutsu specialists like Kiba and Choji were greatly impressed, as they knew that it was nearly impossible to catch an incoming kick like that. At best, you would be able to block it with your arm reducing the damage done on impact. To be able to stop a kick simply by grabbing the leg took great amount of power to stop the momentum of the kick, and a precise movement to catch the fast moving leg without hurting the hand grabbing it.

Sasuke was as shocked as the other students, perhaps even more so. Nobody had ever caught his kick, not even Iruka sensei who was a chunnin. Jerking his foot, Sasuke found himself unable to dislodge his leg from the seated blonde's iron grip.

"What do you wish to prove Uchiha-san?" Naruto inquired softly. "Facing an opponent stronger then yourself will make you stronger, but fighting someone so far out of your skill level is foolish at best." Naruto's grip tightened till the point the artery in Sasuke's leg was clamped shut cutting off circulation to the foot and grinding the shin bone painfully. "At worst, it can get you killed." His last sentence was let out in a frosty hiss that sent shivers down Sasuke's spine.

Anger flared up inside Sasuke as he realized just how outclassed he was. The fact that Naruto was around his age fueled the rage even further. Flipping himself into the air, he used Naruto's hold on his leg as a pivot point in midair to aim his free leg at the blonde's skull.

Halfway through his maneuver, Sasuke felt himself being jerked by his trapped leg and swung about like he was weightless. Instead of letting go and ducking, Naruto had chosen to swing Sasuke like a club against the tree he was seated by. The light blow, for Naruto anyway, knocked the breath out of Sasuke's lungs, and forced him into a fitful coughing as he crumpled down at the base of the tree.

"Sasuke!" the twin yells belonged to Ino and Sakura while everyone else watched on in silence. By the time Sasuke was back on his feet, Naruto was already walking away back to the academy.

"Where are you going?!" demanded Sasuke. "This fight is far from over!"

Naruto turned around so that he partially faced the roughed up Uchiha. "As I have said before, you are far too weak to face me. You will need to be much stronger before you can even hope to challenge me." The masked blonde continued walking towards the classroom after dismissing Sasuke.

'Weak?!' Anger clouded Sasuke's judgment and involuntarily his hands formed seals as he dashed towards the retreating Naruto. Leaping up into the air, Sasuke gathered chakra and mixed it with the air in his lungs.

Naruto had swiveled around to face Sasuke just in time to see the Uchiha unleash a stram of flames from his mouth. 'Fire spell: Grand Fireball!' The onlookers all gasped as a ball of fire enveloped the unmoving blonde. Many of the girls screamed in fright as the fire consumed the boy, some going as far as fainting. Landing on his feet, Sasuke watched in stupefied shock at the ball of fire where the blonde had once stood.

"I…I did-dn't mean…to.." Sasuke tried to explain as people stared at him in horror.

"Hmmm." Sasuke whirled around at the contemplative humming. The flames had died down and at the center of the scorched ground stood Naruto with slightly singed clothing.

"**Hahahaha. Well I'll be damned. He actually tried to kill you! Maybe he has some balls after all." **Calmly brushing the soot off his clothing the blonde glanced at the shell shocked Uchiha.

"How did you…?"

"All humans release a small amount of chakra form their bodies" explained Naruto impassively. "Depending on how much chakra you have, you naturally release a constant amount in proportion to the quantity you possessMy reserves are nearly as large as the Hokage's, perhaps even greater and that means I unconsciously leak out a lot more chakra then normal people. Simply put," Naruto shrugged at this point, "the amount of chakra I involuntarily release was strong enough to shield my body from your attack."

Sasuke balled his hands into fists and all his guilt for having killed the blonde vanished. 'Am I still so weak?! What have I been doing all these years?! How will I kill him?' Studying the angry Uchiha Naruto continued speaking.

"Don't be too surprised. There will always be people stronger then you Uchiha-san. This is true for everyone, even me. Those who reach the top find themselves quickly losing their seat to another who has gained even more power. That is one of the ultimate truths in our chaotic world where no other rule seems to hold true."

Grinding his teeth together in fury at his opponent's dispassionate claim, Sasuke felt the retort die in his mouth when a cloud of smoke exploded next to Naruto. When the screen of haze cleared, immediately every male within the vicinity felt their blood head south.

A kunoichi dressed in a very unladylike manner was draped over Naruto and many of the boys, Sasuke included though he would never admit it, would have sold their souls to trade positions with him. Anko remained oblivious to the jealous looks thrown at her by the girls as she nuzzled her little brother's head.

"Hey squirt. Whadya say we ditch this dump?" The blonde looked up at his sister and shook his head a negative.

"I still need to attend class. We are simply on break right now and-"

"Class my ass!" interrupted Anko. "You know everything already. Let's blow this joint and go eat!" Naruto considered for a moment. On one hand, the Hokage had all but ordered him to attend the academy and it was his duty to follow his lord's instructions. But then again, he wasn't learning anything new. Sighing in surrender, he allowed his sister to push him out the front gate leaving a court full of shocked and envious students.

"Damn, she's hotter then Kiba's sister!"

"Yeah, hotter then my..Hey wait a minute!!" The unfortunate boy who commented on Kiba's sister never became a ninja due to missing the genin exam because of a broken arm and sprained back not to mention a few missing molars. After he recovered, he felt that shinobi life was simply too violent for him and instead became a janitor for the Hokage tower. In a way, his services were just as important as any ninjas.

**Genin Exams**

"Uzumaki-Naruto!" He was the last one to take the physical part of the genin exam.

'Thank god!' Don't take it the wrong way, Iruka loved to teach. He just hated those _things_ he had to teach. "Please throw those shurikens at the target." Even Mizuki was smiling in relief as Naruto stepped into the room. The ten shurikens all hit the bull's-eye at the center.

'Why are we even testing him?' wondered Iruka. "Same with the Kunais." Ten perfect dead on shots so fast Iruka didn't even see the throw. "Now please perform the three basic academy jutsus." A henge imitating Anko left both men shifting uncomfortably at their suddenly tight pants. A quick pop and Naruto had switched with a nearby chair. The former hunter-nin paused for a moment before speaking up.

"I am unable to perform the bunshin." Pulling out a slip of paper he handed it over to Mizuki. Reading over it, the man's eyebrows shot up and vanished into his hair. Apparently according to the Hokage, Naruto had so much chakra he was unable to control it to the extent necessary to create any of the basic illusion bunshins.

The Hokage had excused him from this part of the exam seeing as he was capable of making the shadow, water, and earth clones.

"Well congratulations, you passed this exam with 100 percent, not that it really surprises me." Mizuki handed over a headband which was quickly tied to the blonde's right bicep. Iruka followed Naruto out of the room where he stood next to all those that had passed. "Congratulations to all of you who have passed. You are now officially ninja!" The twenty-seven students cheered slightly at those words. "To those of you who didn't pass, you will have until next year to master the skills and material necessary to become a shinobi of our village. You are all dismissed. Have a nice summer."

The failures left the room while grumbling about the unfairness of the exam and shooting glares at the students who passed. "As for those of you who have passed, come back here tomorrow to get team assignments. Following the failures out of the room, the newly graduated genins all ran up excitedly to their family with the exception of Sasuke and Naruto. Sasuke brooded quietly in the corner where as Naruto met up with his eccentric sister. Dreamy sighs echoed throughout the court of the academy as men eyed the kunoichi as discreetly as possible so as not to invoke the wrath of their wives.

Some nearly fainted from the lost of blood in their brains as Kiba's sister Hana waved the two siblings over and embraced the older of the two. Spikes of killing intent washed over Naruto as he too received a hug from Kiba's 17 year old sister. After a bout of chattering followed by congratulations, Naruto and Anko took off to god knows where and parents began to leave with their children.

**Classroom**

"Team 7 will be Haruno Sakura," The pink haired girl sat up with her fingers crossed under the desk. Sasuke still hadn't been called and only 8 other people remained. "Uchiha Sasuke" A scream of joy left her lips as many of the girls in the room began crying even though they already knew they weren't with the Uchiha. "and Uzumaki Naruto." Sakura's victory dance came to an abrupt halt.

'Oh god not him! He's going to kill me!' all thoughts of the Uchiha left her mind

"**Not if we get him first!"** cried inner Sakura.

Sasuke had perked up slightly at the pairing. 'Perfect! He'll make an excellent teammate to measure myself against.'

"Team 8 will consist of Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, and Inuzaka Kiba."

'Ah crap' thought Kiba as he felt Hinata frowned at his back. Shino looked somewhat constipated at the mention of Kiba's name.

"And finally team 10 will be Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akamiji Chouji."

"Hey what happened to team 9?" asked and indignant Ino.

"They're still a team from last year" answered Iruka. "Your senseis will be arriving after lunch. They will call out your team number." His face turned solemn as he looked over the graduated misfits, excuse me, I mean genin. "I wish you all luck on your journey as shinobi."

Hiding his glee as best as he could, Iruka practically ripped the door off its hinges in his hurry to leave. Later a chunnin instructor claimed he saw Iruka skipping down the hallway, but nobody believed him. I mean, it's Iruka we're talking about, come on.

**5 hours later**

The classroom was empty with the exception of team 7. The 6 o'clock sun left elongated shadows all over the room as the remaining three genin waited for their sensei. Sasuke was brooding by his desk with Sakura fawning over him. Naruto was currently sharpening his weapons at the bottom row of the class for the third time.

"**How much you want to bet its Kakashi?" **

'I'm no fool Kyuubi.'

"**Come on,**" the demon grinned, "**it could be some other tardy ninja you know." **Kyuubi burst into laughter at his jab at the silver haired jounin.

'Come now, 5 hours late? I doubt it is anyone else.' The door swung open unexpectedly causing Sakura to jump and Naruto to nearly cut his thumb off with a kunai he had been sharpening mindlessly. 'Who else could walk silently enough to avoid my hearing?'

The cycloptic ninja came into view with one hand scratching the back of his head. "Ahahaha. Sorry about the long wait. I got lost on the road of life." Sasuke snorted at their sensei's lame excuse while Sakura forced a small painful smile onto her face.

"**That's the lamest excuse ever!" **screeched inner Sakura.

"**You think he was testing your patience?" **drawled Kyuubi.

'If it were anyone else I would say yes. But this it's Kakashi. His reputation for being tardy exceeds even that of his as the copy cat ninja.'

"Why don't we all go upstairs and get some fresh air? I'm sure you could use the exercise after sitting inside a classroom for four hours."

"Five." Naruto's one word reply prompted Kakashi's famous eye smile. A puff of smoke and the man was gone. Sasuke and Sakura obediently headed for the stairs while Naruto opted to go out the window and up the side of the building. A few seconds of walking and he was on the roof next to the silver haired Kakashi who was leaning casually over the railing.

Flipping over the side of the safety railing and perching himself precariously on the protective metal bar, he stared at Kakashi until the man turned and looked at him.

"So why were you so late?" the emotionless question warned Kakashi that anything besides the truth would prompt a most painful response from the blonde.

The jounin rubbed his head sheepishly before replying. "Got sidetracked. I would have come sooner, but your sister invited me to watch her fail her team." Naruto sighed and shook his head.

"Again?" The Cyclops eye smiled while bringing out his favorite little orange novel from his supply pouch.

"Yep. So tell me, what do you think about those two?" Naruto left his perilous balancing act on the railing and landed next to his sensei. Closing his eyes and recalling everything he had seen or heard about Sakura and Sasuke in the past two days, he prepared to outline his thoughts.

"Haruno-san is currently the third strongest kunoichi of the class with chakra control said to be second to none, better then even the Hyuuga who happens to be the best kunoichi out of the graduating class. I was not able to observe any of her skills as a kunoichi, but if I were to base her stealth capability based on her attempts to garner attention from the Uchiha, then she is a complete failure as a ninja." Here he paused to collect his thoughts. "Her chakra capacity is too low for my senses to correctly judge which may be that contributing factor to her excellent control. Her infatuation with the Uchiha will distract her from training and her growth will no doubt be stunted by having the Uchiha on her team."

Kakashi nodded in understanding as he listened to the blonde's report. He knew that Naruto was impartial when asked for his opinion and was brutally honest, if a bit tactless. "As for the Uchiha, he has a chakra supply strong enough for me to detect, somewhere around the level of genin heading for the chunnin. He is the fastest out of the entire class, but notably not the strongest. He is proficient with taijutsu for a genin, but he won't be facing down a chunnin yet. He seems to be capable of using the Grand Fireball technique, though it appears to be much weaker then it should be. I would suggest you train him in chakra control exercises as soon as possible in order to maximize his efficiency in the ninjutsu department. And as far as I know, he has yet to activate his sharigan."

Kakashi nodded again as Naruto finished his report. He was about to ask what training regiment the blonde would consider for Sakura to see Naruto's judgment capabilities when the rooftop door opened to admit the two students they had been discussing. Kakashi snapped the book shut and nodded his thanks at Naruto before facing his remaining two team members who had taken a seat in front of their sensei.

The jounin studied the annoyed form of Sakura and the dark glare he was receiving from Sasuke. 'These two have a long way to go.'

Smiling beneath his mask, Kakashi put away the book he was holding and waved cheerfully at all three of his possible students. "Since we don't really know each other, why don't we start with our names, likes, dislikes, and dreams for the future."

The pink haired girl raised her hand to get her sensei's attention. "Why don't you go first sensei, to give us an idea of how it works." Kakashi nodded happily and started off the introductions.

"My name is Hatake Kakashi, I like a lot things, not a lot I dislike, and I never really think about the future."

'All we got was his name!' thought Sasuke and Sakura.

"Naruto why don't you go next?"

The masked boy spoke up in a voice that plainly told everyone listening he thought this was a waste of time. "Uzumaki Naruto, I like to learn, create, and perfect new techniques. I dislike this village," three sets of eyebrows vanished into their respective hairlines of pink black and silver. "My dream is to eliminate every criminal in the bingo book."

'Just like I feared, he really has no loyalties to Konoha outside of Anko and the Hokage.'

"Pinky."

A vein throbbed angrily in Sakura's abnormally large forehead as Inner Sakura shouted in outrage, **"You're one to talk you silver haired freak!"**

"Well my name is Haruno Sakura, I like…" here she trailed off into a fit of giggles. "I dislike pigs!"

"**Damn straight!"**

"And I dream of…" again she broke off into giggles while staring dreamily at Sasuke. Even the emotionally underdeveloped Naruto got the general hint of where that was going.

'Oh dear god I got a fangirl. Wonder who I pissed off in my past life?' "Emo"

An indignant look crossed Sasuke's face before it reverted back to the cool look of indifference. "Uchiha Sasuke. I like fire techniques, I dislike mindless girls" a glare deflated Sakura's happy mood faster then a needle to a balloon. "I dream…no I will kill that man one day." Sasuke's eyes became chips of ice at the mention of Uchiha Itachi.

**Unknown location**

Itachi sneezed, completely blowing his cover. In the instant Itachi reflexively closed his eyes during his sneeze, his target took off at a pace that was a mere blur even to his fully matured sharigan eyes.

"Damn it Itach! What the fuck was that?!" bellowed Kisame while swinging his sword around in irritation. "We almost had that little bastard!" The shark man's dance of frustration would have amused the Uchiha greatly had they not just lost their target.

Itachi glared and rubbed his nose furiously on his cloak. Three months of careful planning and tracking and then they lose the five tails just because of a little sneeze.

'I bet it was Sasuke talking about me again. I knew I should have killed the little twerp.'

**Rooftop**

"Well good, good! Now that we know each other a little better, we'll be doing a survival excercise together tomorrow." Sakura raised her hand again. "We're not in class anymore Sakura" mumbled Kakashi while waving his hand in her direction.

Blushing slightly, the kunoichi asked anyways. "Sensei, we've already done survival drills before back at the academy."

"Ah." The cloth mask stretched slightly and the cyclops's only eye closed in a happy fashion giving an impression of a smile. "But have you been on one where your career as a shinobi is on the line with only a 66 percent chance of passing?"

Sakura's jaws dropped while Sasuke seemed to sit up a little straighter. Naruto turned around and stared out at Konoha indifferently, admiring the view the setting sun made on the bustling village.

"Heh, didn't think so." Kakashi eye smiled again. Reaching into his supply pouch, he pulled out three fliers that he handed over to his trio of students. "Time, date, and location. Don't eat anything, unless you happen to like regurgitating stomach fluids." The jounin waved at his students once before vanishing in a puff of smoke off to no doubt read his perverted little book in privacy.

"Is he serious?" shouted Sakura. Sasuke hmmed noncommittally and smiled to himself.

'A test of skill. If I pass this, I will be one step closer to Itachi!' His eyes narrowed as he stared at his silent teammate while ignoring the ranting Sakura. 'If anyone on this team could pass, it will most likely be Naruto. I can't afford to pass the chance of having such a powerful teammate on my side. And once I have the sharigan, all his secrets will be mine!' His hand clenched around the paper crumpling it into a ball.

Stalking stealthily towards the door, he tried to leave without attracting his pink haired teammates attention. Too late. 'Crap"

"Sasuke-kun! Would you like to-"

"No." shot down before she could even finish asking her question; Sakura felt a bout of depression falling in. The Uchiha's curt answer was followed by the slamming of the rooftop door in the kunoichi's face as if to emphasize his point.

The crestfallen girl turned from the door to find that her other teammate was gone as well. "Way to be a team" grumbled Sakura to no one in particular.

**1:00 a.m. Konoha**

Naruto stepped back from the door after bidding his sister good-night. It had been a night filled with eating drinking and laughing. Well ok, Anko did most the drinking and laughing while Naruto stuck mostly with eating, but it was still a good night nonetheless.

The blonde genin was now heading towards his own dwelling to settle in a bit earlier then normal, if you call 1:00 in the morning early, in preparation for Kakashi's test.

"**It won't be easy, not even for you." **

'No, but it will be a good time to observe the capabilities of the sharigan.' The demonic fox snorted while rolling over onto his back indolently.

"**You weren't kidding when you said you dreamed to take out all the criminals in the elemental nation?" **

'I never say what I don't mean. You should know that better then anyone else." The fox grinned in his cage inside the seal before returning to his former position of resting on his belly.

"**More fun for us then." **A quick motion from his peripheral vision brought Naruto to an abrupt halt across the rooftops. Noticing the man was waving in his direction, Naruto decided to investigate. As he came close to the chunnin, the blonde recognized him as the one present during his genin exam.

"How can I help you Mizuki-san?" The man handed over a piece of paper.

"Kakashi asked me to deliver this to you. Something about a separate test for you." The chunnin clapped his hand on the blonde' shoulder unknowingly causing Naruto to frown underneath is mask. "Good luck!" Mizuki took off onto the rooftop before vanishing into the darkness leaving the blonde on the ground to unfold the paper and read it on his own.

_Naruto,_

_The test we will be having tomorrow is a challenge for a genin, but I have no illusions about how you will perform, even if I blindfolded you. Instead, with the permission and help of the Hokage, I've come up with a separate test for you. Inside the Hokage tower, there lies the forbidden scroll. Your task is to retrieve the scroll with any means necessary short of killing someone. The Anbu I've placed around the tower have been ordered to stop you with lethal force if necessary, so I'd be careful when going in. The Hokage will be patrolling inside as well, and he has agreed to stop you if he detects your presence. I remind youthat there is a reason why he is Hokage, ad he will stop you if you're not careful. After retrieving the scroll, you will rendezvous with me in training area 62 at 0300 hours. Good luck!_

At the bottom was Kakshi's signature and a small drawing of the man holding up two fingers in a peace sign.

**AN: So, is it a fake note, or is this a genuine test Kakashi made up just for Naruto? You'll have to stick around to find out! Hopefully I'll get it out soon. Read and review!**


	12. Your bell or my balls?

AN: I realize I haven't updated in a long time, but college apps and scholarship has to come first guys. About to be raped by the finals so don't expect any updates until break Here's chapter 10, hope it's of the same quality after 3 months of writing formal letters and essays lol.

"**Kit you do realize that signatures can be forged right**?" Behind his mask, Naruto frowned as he considered the delicate situation he found himself in. On one hand, if he did not retrieve the scroll and the test was legitimate, he would have failed, and that was not a viable option for Naruto. Yet, on the other hand, if he went through with it and it was a forged note, the village would be out for his blood, not to mention the possibility of losing the forbidden scroll to an enemy.

"**Better make a decision quick, you barely have two hours to sneak in and get your ass back out." **The blonde kept moving towards the tower even as he considered all his options. He could hunt down Mizuki and see if he was a traitor, but if he wasn't it would leave him very little time to get the scroll and to the meeting point on time. Alerting the Hokage was useless since according to the note he was in on the test, meaning he may deny knowing about the test in order to confuse Naruto and failing him in the process. There really was no way to tell if the Hokage was acting confused or was genuinely puzzled, after all, the man's acting skills was matched by only a handful in the living world. Hunting down Kakashi to verify the legitimacy of the test would again cut down on the time available if it were a real test. And similar with the situation with the Hokage, Kakashi could be lying in order to test Naruto, because once that man clamped up you may as well be trying to read a rock for all the good it'll do.

'Truly an ingenious ploy Kakashi, well played.'

"**Or the traitor**" rumbled the Kyuubi thoughtfully. Naruto nodded in agreement to the Kyuubi's assessment. Slowing down as he closed in on the looming tower, Naruto dropped down onto the rooftop, completely prone so as not to be seen by the patrolling Anbu. Counting carefully with his keen night vision, the blonde numbered around 20 Anbu on the outside patrolling in pairs. Obviously, there would be more on the inside, perhaps even more then outside.

'Nearly twice the normal amount guarding the tower' Naruto noted to himself. 'Either Kakashi really called in favors for the test, or the traitor may have slipped some information in about a possible theft.' Naruto's eyes narrowed as he noticed the telltale glow of light from the Hokage's office. 'So Ji-san is there as well.'

"**What will you do now boy?" **The Kyuubi smirked as he pondered the situation his host was in. The demon loved riddles, and the dilemma Naruto now faced was as entertaining as killing to the king of demons. **'Never a dull moment with this one.'**

The blonde host shrugged and began to count the weapons he had on him. 'What I do best Kyuubi, what I do best.'

**Hokage's office**

The door clicked open slowly and a wolf masked shinobi walked in flanked by a falcon and shrew. The Hokage looked up and waved his hand to allow the captain to speak. Kneeling down, Wolf began speaking in a hurried fashion. "It seems the anonymous tip about the possible theft of the forbidden scroll is correct. At 0230 Snake, Rabbit, Boar and Horse were found paralyzed by a poison in their patrol routes. The perpetrator may already have infiltrated the tower Hokage-sama." Sarutobi nodded seriously. Putting his hand into his robes, he withdrew and threw a kunai straight at the captains bowed head. The man caught the flying blade easily and stood up.

"How did you know?" His voice now sounded gruffer and more familiar to the Hokage's ears. Falcon and Shrew had both been shocked, but being the professionals that they were, they already both had blades placed at the imposter's throat. The Hokage took off his hat and smiled at the intruder.

"Gendo-kun has a U shaped birthmark on the back of his neck. Normally you wouldn't see it, but since you knelt I got a good look at your blank neck. You might have succeeded had you chosen to stand instead." Gendo's imposter nodded thoughtfully. A quick blur of motion occurred in a heartbeat, sending Falcon into the wall parallel the Hokage and Shrew unconscious on the ground from a concussion due to an elbow to the back of her head.

Already the man was doubled over in an arm-bar courtesy of Sarutobi. The sharp point of a kunai tickled the tip of the man's Adams-apple.

"You haven't lost it yet old man." The monotonous and dry tone froze up the Third as he recognized the voice.

"Naruto-" His astonished question was cut short as the imposter leaned forward so that the blade pierced his throat. An explosion of smoke blinded the Hokage as the clone was forcibly dispelled. The previously thought unconscious Falcon had used the distraction to stand up and grab the forbidden scroll with his right hand while at the same time throwing three heavy metal balls designed for shattering glass at the window next to the Hokage's desk. With an ear piercing screech, the glass splintered then gave way as Falcon's body smashed into and through the reinforced window.

Sarutobi by this time had moved clear of the smoke left behind by the clone and was by the window just in time to see Naruto in his henged form vanish into the treetops while being pursued by Anbu guards. Slipping his hand into the front pocket of his robe while frowning, he pulled out the slip of paper the clone had dropped in before self terminating.

The door burst open and four Anbu rushed in with their blades drawn. "Hokage-sama we heard a disturbance, are you alright?" The professional hid his worry well behind a wall of indifference required of all Anbu.

Nodding absentmindedly as he read the note, the Third realized the truth with a start. "Dog," for that was the man's code name thanks to his mask, "call off the pursuers."

The man looked uncertainly as the Third while sheathing his blade. "Sir?"

"I'm sure everything is under control." The Hokage had moved over to his desk and taken out his pipe. Lighting it, the Third gave a small puff and nodded at the remaining three Anbu. "And get someone to fix the window too will you? The draft in here will kill me before old age does."

Shocked at their leader's nonchalance at having the village's scroll of forbidden secrets being stolen, they nonetheless immediately reacted to the order and vanished to carry out their lord's will.

Stalking over to the small covered desk next to the cabinet full of textbooks, Sarutobi pulled off the white cover to reveal a small clear translucent ball. Concentrating his chakra, the Hokage placed his hand over the crystal ball which immediately clouded over before an image swam up into view. "Let's see what you're up to Naruto."

**Training area 13**

"**Well kit, it seems you're a bit early hmmmm?**"

'Note said to meet at 0300 hours, I see no reason to be early.' Currently, Naruto was hidden away at the training area 13 and had the scroll spread out in front of him.

"**You know, it's called forbidden for a reason**." Kyuubi's cackling would have unsettled Naruto's conscious, if he had one, but fortunately, or unfortunately, Naruto hardly felt quiver in his soul.

'If this is a test by Kakashi, he no doubt expects me to learn a few techniques from this scroll.' The entire time his eyes never left the sheet of paper as he explained his reasoning to the Kyuubi. 'And if this happens to be a trap, then a few new techniques will ensure that I safely return this scroll and aid in my capture of the traitor.'

The Kyuubi chuckled softly at his host's logic. "**If I didn't know better I would say you were taking advantage of the situation**." Sarcasm oozed in the Kyuubi's mocking observation.

'A good shinobi should always be ready to take advantage of an open opportunity.'

"**Like in Cloud**?"

'Exactly."

"**Kit, you do realize you are heading on a path straight to hell right**?" Instead of answering, the blonde began to flash through handseals without putting any chakra in them, practicing and imprinting the movements into his mind. Inside Naruto's mind, the Kyuubi whistled softly as he read the technique scroll through his host's eyes.

"**No wonder why you fleshbags made it forbidden. Those rockapes would die before they even finished the last handseal**." Ending his practice of the new forbidden technique he had just acquired, the blonde shrugged indifferently at the Kyuubi's remark.

'We both know I'm not an ordinary fleshbag.' The demon smirked and nodded in agreement. There was no denying the fact that Naruto was no longer truly human, or perhaps due to his upbringing, he was never truly human at all. The vessel checked his watch and saw that it was only 2:45 a.m.

'Plenty of time left.' He began reading through the next section of the scroll. 'Interesting, a fire spell…"

**Hokage's office**

Sarutobi chuckled softly as he watched the young blonde page through the ancient scroll eating up techniques that were mostly life consuming for the average person to use. With Naruto's massive chakra reserves coupled with the Kyuubi's power and his rapid regeneration capabilities, he may very well be the only person capable of using all those techniques.

Even Sarutobi, the Professor, dared not use some of those forbidden techniques. The Sandaime lit his pipe and watched Naruto practice the second technique he had learned. 'It's times like these I really wish I had a successor.' The Professor toyed with the end of his pipe as he stared aimlessly up at the portrait of the Yondaime. "Arashi you truly were the perfect successor."

'Orochimaru would have made a great Hokage had he not betrayed our village to further his own cause. Or if he wasn't so into little boys.' The Third felt his stomach turn at his own thought. 'Jiraiya has the power, but not the patients, self control, or the desire. If I made him Godaime, he would most likely require all kunoichi be uniformed in miniskirts and high heels.'

Sarutobi chuckled as an image of Anko and Kurenai came to mind. 'Not that some of them are too far from that already.' He took a puff of his pipe and continued considering possible successors while absentmindedly watching Naruto perfect a third technique.

'Tsunade would be an ideal successor, if she weren't an alcoholic gambler.' The Hokage shook his head sadly as he thought about his former kunoichi student. 'Not that she would want to.' Taking another slow puff of the pipe and savoring the flavor of tobacco filling tickling his taste buds, the old man pulled out the note from his pocket and reread it to make sure he got the meeting place and time right.

"Perhaps Kakashi…." 'What the hell am I saying?' The Third grimaced as an image of Kakashi wandering into office four hours late while reading Jiraiya's book popped into his head. "He wouldn't do any of the paperwork, I mean, he barely does his now!" Sarutobi took another puff of his pipe and returned to watching the blonde who was currently rolling up and resealing the forbidden scroll.

'In a few years perhaps, Naruto would make a good candidate.'

'……' Shaking his head furiously to clean out the cobwebs, the man laughed at his own thought. "I really need to go to bed." Chuckling softly, he considered his previous thought. 'Naruto couldn't care less about the village and unless I order him to become Hokage I doubt he would even think about something like this.'

Gazing at the moving form of the blonde who currently had the scroll strapped safely across his back, Sarutobi spoke to the crystal ball. "It's too bad you hate this village so much Naruto, you would have made a great Hokage."

**Training field 62**

As Naruto neared training ground 62, he caught sight of Kakashi who was reading his familiar orange book. Landing softly on the ground the blonde turned to face his soon to be sensei.

"Ah," the man snapped his book shut, "you've got the scroll I see. Good work!" Kakashi placed the book into his pouch and gave a soft whistle from behind his mask. Two Anbu dropped down, one wearing a weasel mask and the other an otter. "Otter, Weasel, bring the scroll back to the Hokage will you?"

Both men, for surely no would woman could have such flat well defined chests, moved forward to take the scroll from Naruto.

"A good henge, but I'm afraid you've made a mistake." The blonde's barely audible words froze both advancing Anbu. Kakashi himself looked puzzled as he raised a silver eyebrow. Naruto returned the scroll to his back before he lashed out viciously at the two Anbu who were both caught off guard. A knee to the chest caused Weasel to explode into a burst of water, and a quick jab had his partner on the ground in a similar state of matter.

"Kakashi is notoriously late, even to a meeting with the Hokage. I doubt he would make an exception for me." The masked man grimaced under his disguise before nodding at the blonde.

"Well done Naruto-kun." The Kakashi look-alike vanished into a cloud of smoke, and when it cleared a sneering Mizuki greeted Naruto's steady gaze. "I doubt asking would get you to hand over the scroll, so let's skip all the dramatic talk and get straight down to the fighting!"

"**Huh, fool thinks he can take you on. Did he miss the meeting where they told everyone how you killed the Raikage and wiped the floor free of his blood with the bodies of his shinobi?" **

'He is confident that he can hold his own against me' blue eyes narrowed thoughtfully behind the soulless faceplate. 'No doubt he has some sort of backup plan if he is so bold as to challenge me for the scroll.' And true to his prediction, Mizuki pulled out a small orange pill from his chunnin vest.

Swallowing it in one go, the man grinned manically as he removed one of the huge Fuma Shurikens on his back. Hurling the unnecessarily oversized blade, the man leapt back and began forming handseals. Ducking the incoming blade, Naruto was quiet surprised when it sliced clean through the unlucky tree behind the blonde.

'Either he's stronger then he looks or that pill was some sort of strength enhancer.' A ball of fire blasted towards the masked genin who kawarimied out of harms way. Reappearing behind the academy teacher, Naruto let fly with a cocked fist, aimed straight at the man's lower back. The devastating blow sent Mizuki skidding across the forest floor until he slammed into a tree, halting his uncontrolled roll.

"Did you really think you could get the scroll from me with attacks like that?" The calm in Naruto's voice was betrayed with a bit of annoyance mixed in. The traitor got groggily to his feet where he swayed drunkenly for a moment before smiling through his pain.

"Ah, but it's starting to kick in." His grin grew wider. And wider. And wider still. Mizuki's lips stretched outwards, thinning, and contorting his smile into a twisted grimace. Canines enlarged and poked out between his lips, and his eyes began to move further apart from each other. Orange fur sprouted all over his body, covering his body in a thick matt of striped tiger pelt. His 5'8" frame stretched out and shot up until he was close to 7'. His vest unable to keep onto his expanded frame burse open and stretched out till it ripped as the man grew. His long pants now hung in shreds, barely covering his dignity up, and reduced to mere shorts.

Flexing a huge flawed hand, Mizuki grinned toothily at the unmoving blonde who had watched his transformation without stirring. "Now we'll see who wins!" A stripped orange blur burst towards Naruto, moving so fast that neither head nor tail could be distinguished from one another.

A clawed hand reached for the blonde's face before the boy could even blink. Sending himself backwards while tilting back his head, Naruto barely managed to dodge the swipe from the transformed Mizuki. Landing on his hands the blonde swung his legs around and kicked out at the traitor, nailing him dead on the nose.

The tiger-man howled as his sensitive snout was basically kicked in and threw himself at his blonde opponent in a fit of rage. Wrapping himself around the boy, he proceeded to attempt to crush the life out of Naruto. The blonde genin squirmed violently in the tight death hold until he had freed his hands enough to form handseals.

'Lightening spell: Shocking Release!' A blue electrical pulse built up around the short blonde before dispersing itself in all directions. Electricity jumped from Naruto's body onto the closest thing to him, Mizuki. The smell of brunt fur assaulted the blonde's nose as the transformed man let go with a pained groan. Spinning around, Naruto delivered a barrage of punches into his adversaries exposed abdomen, so fast that Mizuki only caught a blur of motion even though he felt scores of blows land.

As the stunned man stumbled backwards he was shocked to find that a lot of his fur had fallen off. In fact, most of it had fallen off. Staring at his shrinking hands in disbelief, Mizuki realized that the miracle pill was wearing off already.

'But it's barely been a minute!' he thought angrily.

"Ah, it seems your edge is beginning to fade Mizuki-sensei." Turning around, the man prepared to snarl something hateful at the former hunter-nin, but he was nowhere in sight.

'Behind!' Too late; before he could even turn around fully, Mizuki felt a sharp pain in his spine, courtesy of the Naruto's extended right leg. The crippling blow sent the man to the floor, twitching uncontrollably as he tried to move his damaged body. Kneeling down so that his mask was inches away from the chunnin's face which was twisted in pain, Naruto studied the tortured expression on the man's face.

"What did you hope to gain from this scroll sensei?" the dry monotone gave away no hints of curiosity even if the tone indicated a question. "What could you have possible done with such an advanced scroll?" A groan filled the air as Mizuki tried to move, but only managed a spastic twitch. "Don't bother. That blow most likely fractured your spine. I'd be surprised if you ever walked again."

The kneeling genin clenched his fist tightly and dealt a vicious blow to the unprepared chunnin's temple, leaving a bleeding cut where his knuckles had connected with the skull.

"A nice long visit with Ibiki will loosen your tongue." Naruto's cold voice sounded even darker in the silence that followed.

**Training Field**

"Where the hell are they?!!" The outraged yell belonged to a certain hungry pink haired teenaged kunoichi wannabe. Inner Sakura's ranting was less then polite, and Sakura couldn't help but to agree with some of the more vile names given to their wayward sensei and blonde teammate.

Sasuke of course was too cool to voice his complaints, but instead chose to lean casually in the training post without a word, stewing slowly over how unfair the world was. His bad boy image was slightly ruined by the constant growling of his stomach, but Sakura hardly noticed. After standing outside with her crush for 4 hours, ogling Sasuke had lost its novelty, and all she wanted was a hot breakfast and a warm bed. Preferably with Sasuke under the covers of course, but you can't have everything in life.

Neither of the teens had eaten as per their sensei's instructions, Sakura going as far as skipping dinner. Both had arrived exactly at 6:00 a.m. as indicated by the flier Kakashi had handed out, only to find that they were the only one's there. And now, at 10:13, they finally caught sight of their sensei who strolled casually into the clearing sporting hair that told them he had just rolled out of bed.

"Yo!" The eye-smile and raised hand in salutation only served to piss off the Sakura even more.

"You're late!!"

"I'm sure he has a valid excuse." Sasuke and Sakura both jumped at Naruto's dismissive comment.

'When did he get here?' wondered Sasuke. 'I didn't even sense him!'

"And you!" screeched Sakura. "Where the hell were you?!" The blonde genin shrugged in reply before mumbling a one word answer.

"Eating."

Kakashi eye-smiled as Sakura seem to swell up with righteous anger at the blonde's casual remark about ignoring the rules. "Sensei told us not to eat Naruto!"

Naruto shrugged again. "Any seasoned shinobi knows not to eat right before battle, but without sustenance, one would lose that very battle anyways. Only a total incompetent would have fallen for sensei's trap."

Sakura's jaws dropped in outrage, but just then her stomach gave a particularly large protesting growl causing the pink haired girl to blush in embarrassment. Whirling around away from her blonde teammate, she faced her sensei and unleashed her anger at the man. "And why are you so late huh?!"

"Weeeelllllllllllll," Kakashi turned around and placed an alarm clock on the middle training pos, "if you really must know, I got lost on the road of life."

"Enough talk" interrupted Sasuke. "Let's get to the test."

The cyclops eye-smiled at the Uchiha. "Impatient aren't we?" Pulling out two silver bells from one of his many pockets on his green jounin vest, Kakashi dangled them in front of the three genins. "Your job is to get a bell from me" he clipped the bells to his belt, "before the alarm, which is set for noon, rings."

"Why is there only two bells sensei?" Sakura's question brought on another eye-smile, this one with a hint of cruel amusement behind it.

"Well I thought that was obvious." The pink haired girl looked slightly put out. "Only two of you will pass the test!" Sakura's jaws dropped and Sasuke clenched his fists tightly at their sensei happy announcement.

'I won't fail!'

"But-"

"Those are my rules." Kakashi had lost his friendly demeanor causing Sakura to shrink into herself. "And you will obey them or else!" His single glaring eye turned into another smiley. "Well there you have it, you have less then two hours." The cyclops stepped away from the three genin. "Ready?" Legs tensed up. "Begin!"

Both Sasuke and Sakura instantly disappeared into the vegetation surrounding the training area. Kakashi turned around to face Naruto who had not moved a muscle.

'I'll have to be careful with him. If I'm not cautious, I might end up losing an arm or leg.'

"Still here Naruto?" The masked blonde grunted and uncrossed his arms.

"What are you playing at Kakashi?" The silver haired jounin raised both his hands in front of his chest mockingly.

"You wound me. This is simply a traditional test for team 7." Naruto grunted again before turning around and strolling unceremoniously into the nearby trees. "Not going to try for a bell?" called out Kakashi. The blonde simply raised his right hand and waved once before vanishing from view.

'I wonder if he will figure it out?' In the nearby tress, Sasuke saw his chance at the jounin's exposed back. Flinging a handful of shurikens, the Uchiha watched the screaming disks of metal soar through the air and connect with the exposed man.

A puff of smoke revealed a pin cushioned log, but no sign of Kakashi. 'Shit! I've given away my position!' The Uchiha leapt off the branch and took off into the forest. 'I'll have to set up some traps to even stand a change against someone like him.'

Across the clearing from where Sasuke had just fled, Sakura had seen everything and was currently moving towards where she had last seen Sasuke. 'This doesn't add up. I know for a fact that genin's are put in three man teams, so how could only two of us pass?'

"Psst. Sakura!" The sudden hiss of her name halted the moving Kunoichi.

"Huh?" looking up, she met the eye of her sensei.

'Demonic hell view: Walking Dead!' The clearing seemed to vanish before Sakura's eyes, and a bloody and beaten Sasuke replaced Kakashi. Numerous blades stuck out from his beaten body at odd angles, oozing out crimson liquids. His left foot was bent back at the wrong angle, and his right arm ended in a gushing stump where the hand should have been.

"Sakura," whispered Sasuke in a strangled voice, "help me." A katana swung out of nowhere and decapitated the dieing Uchiha. The head rolled over and over before finally settling down staring face up at Sakura from between her legs, still gaping in astonishment at his own death.

Her scream echoed throughout the woods, scaring birds into flight. Kakashi scratched his head sheepishly as he stood over the unconscious kunoich who was foaming at the mouth with tears rolling down her cheeks. 'Maybe a little too much oomph."

Shrugging carelessly, the man wandered off to see what Sasuke was up to leaving the girl out cold on the forest floor.

**Sasuke**

Sasuke laid down his final trap, eyeing the clearing to make sure everything was in place and hidden away properly. Straightening himself up, he was given no time to admire his own handiwork as a faint rustling in the bush announced the arrival of his tardy sensei. Casually walking into the trapped clearing with his book in hand, Kakashi looked like he had just happened to wander into the area whilst not paying attention to where he was going.

Still eyeing Icha Icha, he spoke up to the lone Uchiha. "Ready for round two Sasuke?" Three kunai hurled straight at the jounin who continued reading his book while squatting down hastily to avoid being made into a pin cushion. A twang from behind warned him that there were two parts to Sasuke's attack. Snapping his precious book shut, Kakashi slid to the left while at the same time tucking his novel into his supply pouch.

Grinding to a halt, he was met with a kick aimed for his left temple. Blocking the blow with his left arm, Kakashi clamped down on the leg to keep Sasuke from going anywhere.

'Again with the catch?' snarled Sasuke to himself. Pulling his left hand back and balling it into a tight fist, he sent an explosive punch at his sensei's face, only to hit a palm which closed and tightened painfully on his clenched fist. Jerking his left arm back and using Kakashi's hold on his left leg as a pivot point, Sasuke twisted up and reached down with his free hand for the bells hanging off the right side of Kakashi's waist.

Briefly, Sasuke felt his fingertips brush the two bells before he was thrown violently backwards. As he slid away from the experienced jounin, Sasuke formed a few quick hand seals that while fast to any academy student, was sluggishly slow to someone like Kakashi. Inhaling deeply, the dark haired genin felt the familiar burning in his lungs. Pinching his finger and thumb together in front of his mouth in order to control the chakra, Sasuke let loose with a ball of flames that engulfed a wide-eyed Kakashi.

'Fire spell: Grand Fireball!' When the sphere of flames died down, the silver haired man was nowhere to be seen. 'Where?!' The Uchiha's dark eyes darted left, right, forward, up, before he whirled around, yet still there was no sign of Kakashi.

"Below!" The growled words were followed by a gloved hand bursting out of the ground and latching onto the astonished genin's left ankle. Barely given time to yell in surprise, Sasuke quickly found himself buried up to his neck in earth with a eye-smiling Kakashi dusting his hands off in front of his scowling face.

"Earth spell: Inner Decapitation. Like it?" Sasuke snarled and tried to pull free from the ground, but found himself truly and utterly helpless. Kakashi squatted down and patted the furious boy's head once before turning around to leave. "You're good Sasuke, but nowhere near good enough." Pulling out his favorite adult's only book, Kakashi wandered off to where he had left the comatose Sakura.

'Wonder what happened to Naruto?'

**11:50 a.m,**

By the time Kakashi had returned to where he had last seen Sakura, the kunoichi was gone, either dragged off and eaten by wild animals, or more then likely had finally managed to shake off the genjutsu. Seeing that he had nothing to do, Kakashi had returned to the training posts to await his three genin, and was currently reading Icha Icha while sitting cross legged next to the memorial stone.

'Perhaps Naruto took her?' A piercing scream that caused all the nearby wildlife to break out in frenzy startled Kakashi from his thoughts. 'Ah it seems she found Sasuke.' Eye-smiling to no one in particular the jounin flipped a page and continued reading. 'They better hurry; they only have 6 minutes left.'

The soft crunching of leaves underfoot alerted Kakashi to the arrival of Naruto. Chuckling softly, the jounin put away his book and stood up. Standing by the training post was the blond former hunter-nin who was currently eyeing Kakashi stonily.

"I was wondering when you would show up." Naruto shrugged carelessly before replying

"I'm here now." Kakashi began stretching slowly to warm up his stiff muscles, and across from him, Naruto mirrored his movements in preparation for the upcoming spar.

"May I ask why you chose to fight me in the last 5 minutes of our 2 hour test?" Cracking his neck loudly, Naruto began loosening up his shoulders by making continuous shrugging motions.

"You said that we would pass the test if we had a bell by the end of the test. Clearly, it means that we must still be in possession of the bell meaning that if I had gotten the bell earlier you could have still tried to retrieve it." Straightening himself up, the blonde dropped into a fighting pose. "Why waste energy defending the bells over 2 hours and risk losing them if I can just attack near the end and insure my victory?"

The former Anbu commander blinked as he thought over the blonde's words. 'Huh, never thought of it that way.' "But if you fail now in this attempt, you won't get a second chance."

"**He's right you know" **agreed the Kyuubi.

"Kakashi-sensei, you and I both know that a shinobi is rarely given a second chance in battle. Why should this be any different?" Switching his stance to a more aggressive form, Naruto crouched down in preparation to spring. "Besides, I never fail." The statement was said with such cold confidence even Kakashi was impressed.

'There was no arrogance or self belief in that statement. It was just a cold hard fact.' Pulling up his headband, Kakashi opened his best friend's last gift to him and for the first time in a good long while, Obito's eye observed the world once more. 'Once more old friend, I'll have to call on your help against the one who single handedly put the Lightening village out of commission.'

Dropping into a casual fighting stance, Kakashi smiled with his mismatched eyes both of which shown with a rare light of excitement. Truly, there is no shinobi who did not enjoy pitting their skills against a worthy opponent, and Kakashi was no exception. "Shall we?"

Not bothering to answer, Naruto rushed forward at a blinding speed to Kakashi's normal eye. The jounin barely had time to raise his hand and block the incoming kick, and the leg was retracted before he could even try to grab it with his numb hand. The blond genin swiveled on one foot and reversed his initial kick and aimed his heel at the other side of Kakashi's head. Stooping down to avoid the potentially lethal blow, the older shinobi lashed out at Naruto's grounded leg.

Hitting nothing but air, Kakashi found Naruto landing five yards away after his jump to avoid being knocked to the ground. Kakashi tensed as he saw the long haired blonde straighten up. "That sharigan is truly formidable; it seems you can see through all my taijutsu attacks."

As Naruto put his hands together to form an unfamiliar seal, Kakashi felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. "Forbidden Art: Unchaining The Demon" Translucent chains appeared coiled tightly around the blonde's limbs and also around his neck. With his sharigan however, he could see them easily as if they were solid steel. Written on them in kanji with what appeared to be blood were phrases like: "Life for blood" "God is no longer in heaven" "Faith is sin" "Speak with the damned" "Devil's child".

The chains became blindingly bright before shattering and crumbling and fading into nothingness. The jounin coiled his entire body as he saw the blonde in front of him move

'There's no telling what that did to him.' A blur of yellow hair was all the warning he had to raise his arms in defense. A bone shattering blow plowed into Kakashi, and even with his arms crossed in front of his torso and chakra enforcing his body, the jounin felt the intense blow reverberate across his chest. 'What an insane amount of strength!'

Quickly swapping himself out with a kawarimi, Kakashi hid himself in the nearby foliage to regain his breath and to wait out the ache in his numb arms to fade enough to function.

'A few more hits like that and I'm going to be paying the hospital a long visit.' Stilling his breathing, the man willed himself to blend into the trees as his student scanned the area for him. A disturbance at the edge of the forest distracted Naruto as Sasuke and Sakura also entered the clearing.

Kakashi's keen hearing caught what the blonde had muttered to himself whilst nodding. "Ah good, with those two here I won't have to worry about trying this."

Inside Naruto's seal, the Kyuubi was as excited as he ever got. "**This ought to be a good show." **Naruto hunched over and began forming seals with his hands. To the normal eyes, it seemed as if the digits flickered and danced hypnotically, melting from one seal into another. Even to Kakashi's fully mature sharigan, the seals seemed to melt smoothly from one into another. The Hatake barely managed to copy and comprehend the 73 hand seals before it was complete in less than 15 seconds.

'Forbidden Art: Wildfire Tsunami!' The amount of chakra emitted from Naruto's body was so dense that even to the nearby Sakura and Sasuke, it was visible. Poor Kakashi became blind in one eye due to the immense buildup of chakra that was best described as staring at the sun.

Stomping his right foot on the ground and channeling his chakra into the ground as the forbidden scroll had instructed him to, an arch of fire burst from the ground in front of the blonde. For a brief moment, the ten foot high arc of fire danced in front of Naruto, almost as if asking for instructions.

'Oh shit!' thought Kakashi. The ten foot arch of flames filled and a wall of fire blocked Naruto from view. After that, all Kakashi could see was the growing wall of speeding flames headed in all directions. When later asked, Kakashi would say that he had no idea how he had gotten out of the way in time.

In 10 seconds, the nearby forest was simply devastated. Flames consumed everything in its path, washing over trees, rocks, and animals. Creatures were fried beyond recognition of species, leaving behind a black crispy husk without an ounce of fat left on it. Trees became small piles of burnt kindling, and boulders and rocks all took on a glassy feature of hardened molten lava. In less time then it took for someone to sneeze and recover, a once lushes and beautiful forest habitat was reduced to a charred piece of land seen only around active volcanoes.

The Kyuubi let out a low appreciative whistle. "**So that's why it's named Wildfire Tsunami."**

'Indeed, it is aptly named. The fires seem to take on a wavelike feature.' A smoking and singed Kakashi stood next to Sakura and Sasuke mimicking their dropped jawed expression, though the mask covered his open mouth. 'Hmm…A powerful technique, but it takes too much chakra to be of much use. It should only be employed against a large number of enemies, perhaps an invading army.'

"**Would have been useful if you knew this before we went to Kumo" grumbled the Kyuubi. **Naruto silently agreed. Turning around, the blonde stalked up to the stunned jounin and unclipped the bells from his belt. Before Kakashi could react the bell rang, announcing the end of the test. Sasuke cursed out loud as he realized he didn't have a bell while Sakura continued staring at the decimated woodland area.

"I win." Naruto's bland statement snapped Kakashi out of his stupor and the man scratched his head in confusion.

"Yeah, I guess you did." Of course the eye smile was mandatory for this situation.

"What about us?" It seemed Sakura had finally gotten over her shock in the face of her possible failing.

"Hmm…Well…" Again the sheepish scratching of the head and accompanied by his trademark eye smile. "Truth be told, you three would have passed regardless."

As Sakura cheered and Sasuke's shoulders slumped in relief, Kakashi continued explaining. "The council would never let the last Uchiha fail, and with Naruto on the team they figured it was a given that you guys would pass." Being a typical clueless man, he did not realize the slightly tactless statement he had unintentionally made.

'So I passed only because of my teammates?' A bout of blues began to set in on the only girl on the team of four.

"CHA! Who cares, we're with Sasuke!" The exclamation from Inner Sakura cheered her up somewhat, but realizing that she had not even registered on the villages list of worthy shinobi in training was still very depressing.

"Why don't we grab something to eat? I'm sure you're all hungry. My treat!" But really, Kakashi just wanted to get away from the scene of destruction before Anbu arrived and started asking questions and pointing fingers.

**Ichiraku Ramen Stand**

Kakashi sat reading his book while a steaming bowl of ramen cooled in front of him. Sakura was chewing the fattening noodles slowly to his left and to her left sat a brooding Sasuke who was playing with his food while shooting accusing glares at the blonde eating on Kakashi's right.

Already two empty bowls were stacking neatly in front of Naruto, and the noodles in the third bowl were half gone. Not once had they seen him remove his mask. Looking down in his bowl, Sasuke stopped playing with the noodles and began eating while mulling over his thoughts.

'Why am I still so weak? I couldn't get a bell, and I only passed because of my name.' The raven haired boy chewed furiously on the noodles while taking out his frustrations on the poor defenseless bowl of ramen. A choking sound to his right caused him to look up.

Sakura was gaping and pointing at the man trapped between her and the blonde. Sasuke's eyes bugged out as he saw the bowl in front of his sensei, which was empty, soup and all.

"How…when…but I was watching you!" Sakura's frustrated question was answered with an eye smile. Next to Kakashi, Naruto added his third bowl to the pile of empty dishes in front of him.

"Beef old man." It's funny how even when eating his favorite food the blonde was as impassive as a stone mountain.

"Coming right up!" the cheerful reply had come from the cute ramen stand waitress who also happened to be the owner's daughter Ayame, who was always pleased to see their best customer. Kakashi flipped another page and called out his second order.

"Give me a chicken ramen along with that." Sasuke turned back to his own bowl while Sakura ignored hers in favor of glaring at her sensei.

'How did he do that? Was it genjutsu?' glancing at her blonde teammate, she shuddered involuntarily. 'At least you can see sensei's eyes and make out his emotions. But Naruto…' Ayame placed the order of chicken and beef in front of the customers and walked back into the kitchen with a quick "enjoy". The jounin put his book down and took up his pair of chopsticks, stirring the noodles to cool the steaming broth.

The man rubbed his chin with his free before speaking out loud. "Honestly speaking I have no idea what I'm going to do. I've never actually passed a team before so I have no idea how to teach!" Insert eye smile.

'Oh great!' both Sasuke and Sakura's mood became a bit darker upon hearing Kakashi's embarrassed admittance at his incompetence as a teacher.

'Hmm… I'm the only one who can train Sasuke with his sharigan, but Sakura's so far behind that I'll also need to concentrate on bringing her up to par. And Naruto…well he's Naruto."

"Shrimp please." Kakashi blinked at the fourth bowl being added to the stack of empty dish being piled up in front of the former hunter-nin.

'He's even better than I am in some aspects; the best I can do is teach him some new techniques.' Ignoring the growing headache due to his imbalanced team, the silver haired Hatake glanced over to his left to find both Sasuke and Sakura staring at him intently, not even blinking less they miss anything.

Sending chakra through his foot into the ground, Kakashi forced a small lump of earth to build up under one of the legs of Sasuke's chair. Shooting upward, the pile of earth upset the chairs balance sending Sasuke spilling backwards onto the floor. His surprised grunt caused Sakura to turn around and try to help her crush, and in that moment of distraction Kakashi slipped off his mask and gobbled down the entire bowl while swallowing all the soup.

In less then three seconds, the mask was back in place. Looking to his right Kakashi found the blonde looking at him. "That's not humanly possible." Even after witnessing such a spectacular feat of human ingestion speed, Naruto sounded hallow. Kakashi eye smiled and shrugged.

"You break a lot of possibilities as well." Nodding in acceptance, the blonde stacked up his fifth bowl.

"Miso please."

Kakashi snorted at the irony of the situation. 'Such as your stomach capacity.' By this time, the other two genin were back in their seat and wondering how they had missed Kakashi eating an entire bowl of hot ramen in the time it took them to get back to their seats.

'Hehe…Damn I'm good.' Looking at his two glaring students, Kakashi was struck by sudden inspiration. 'I soooo deserve the title of genius!'

"All right guys, here is the plan. We are now officially team 7 once I file my report." Sakura cheered loudly while Sasuke sunk back into his dark thoughts about being forever overshadowed by the Uchiha name. "Sakura you need the focused attention of a single sensei who can bring you up to speed, because honestly, right now, you're a liability to team 7." Depression once again reared its ugly head. "So, seeing as I really can't teach Naruto anything other then new techniques, he will be your sensei!"

The eye smile did nothing to help the feeling of on setting doom washing over the pink haired kunoichi. "Naruto, you will train Sakura as you see fit and I will try to get Sasuke to activate his blood limit. We'll have one month's time of separate training and we'll meet up each day to do missions. After one month, I will train you as a team to the best of my ability." Standing up the man pushed his stool back under the counter.

"So we will meet at Blossom's bridge at 12:00 p.m. tomorrow to do our first mission together. Sasuke I'll see you at training ground 17 at 9:00 a.m. for training." Before anyone could protest, the jounin vanished in a puff of smoke leaving behind his newly formed team of genin.

As Sasuke brooded and Sakura glanced nervously at the eating blonde, she came to a shocking realization. 'I love Naruto!' No just kidding.

"Hey wait a minute! He said he would pay!"

**Unkown Loaction**

Kakashi wandered through the throng of shoppers in the market while openly reading his perverted novel gaining many disapproving glares form shopping women.

'Damn I am good.'

**Ichiraku Ramen Stand**

"Kakashi is notorious for being tardy to any scheduled event, especially the important ones. Another bad habit of his is skipping out on the bill." The dispassionate remark came from Naruto, but only served to anger Sakura further.

"If you knew this why didn't you stop him?!" Naruto turned back to his seventh bowl unconcerned.

"Don't worry." Reaching into one of his many pockets, he pulled out a fat leather wallet.

"I took the liberty of relieving him of his money." Sasuke and Sakura exchanged glances before both yelling out at the same time, "One more please!"

"**Hehe…Wonder when the pervert will notice?" **Being a fox demon, albeit an unnaturally and unnecessarily large one, Kyuubi sill loved to play pranks as all fox demons loved to. Admittedly his sense of what's funny was kind of twisted. I mean he thought it'd be funny to attack the leaf village for laughs, and the only one who ended up laughing was Orochimaru. So not funny.

**Half and hour later**

Sasuke had stood up and left moments earlier leaving Sakura alone with Naruto. The pinked haired kunoichi was eyeing her future trainer nervously who happened to be finishing up his tenth bowl. "Ummm…Sempai…"

"Tomorrow, 0600 training ground 13." Realizing she had been dismissed, she gladly stood up to leave passing by a certain scantly clad kunoichi making a beeline for Ichiraku. Though Naruto saw it coming he knew better then to avoid it. A quick glomping and nuzzling session later, he found Anko plopping down where Kakashi had sat earlier.

"Geez kiddo, you're really cutting loose today, what's the occasion?"

"I have Kakashi's wallet." At those four words, Anko's eyes lit up like Christmas had come early.

"Really now?" a slow evil malicious smirk grew and spread on her face.

"Hey Kurenai! Asuma!" hollering at the two passing jounins to get their attention off each other, she waved them over excitedly. "Naruto has Kakashi's wallet!"

The lit cigarette fell from the bearded Sarutobi's gaping mouth and Kurenai returned her best friends smirk. "Oh happy days."

Poor Kakashi.

AN: Well there you go, not bad for a guy who hasn't written in 3 months lol. Tell me what you think guys, and yes I did use an idea from the filler ark with mizuki.


	13. Man humans have issues

AN: Well guys it's been exactly 2 months since I last updated, and honestly I thought I would get it out after break, but ever since the college letters started coming in, it hit me. Some of these people I've known since like elementary school I might not ever see again. Guess I've been spending more times with my friends, so you'll have to forgive me.

And if you don't, then obviously you need to get some friends lol. Anyways here's the next installment in Hunter-X not my proudest chapter, but the technical crap has to be done or else you'll never understand what I'm trying to get across. Read and send me your thoughts.

**Dream**

"_Look at her! Look at that big forehead!" Jeers and taunting laughter seemed to follow six year old Sakura everywhere she went. Every night she fell asleep, crying and sobbing, wishing with all her heart that she would look a little more normal. The dirty pink haired little girl was hugging her knees to her chest and crying softly as a ring of boys surrounded her._

_Pointing and laughing, the children followed the example of the ringleader, a snot nosed chestnut brown haired boy with a rather large build. He was somewhat chubby for a child his age, but his strength was greater then most children his age which allowed him to bully and push the other kids around. _

_Sakura happened to be a favorite victim of his, and he and his little gang of kids loved to follow her around and make fun of her._

"_My god," he sneered, "with a forehead like that it's a wonder they allow you to be a ninja! The light reflecting off that head of yours would give away your position no matter how you hide!" The circle of boys burst into laughter and blocked out any chance for the crying Sakura to flee._

"_Hey! Leave her alone you jerk!" A six year old Ino had seen enough and decided to step in and help the crying girl._

"_And who's going to make us?" scoffed the leader. "You?" He shoved the Yamanaka sending her sprawling onto the floor. The gang of boys laughed louder as tears of pain welled up in the blonde's eyes from her skinned knee. _

_Bolstered by the support of his friends, the leader turned back to point at Sakura. "Why would you want to help something with a forehead like that?" The cruel laughter only grew louder. Sakura covered her ears and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the horrible mocking noise. _

"_I wouldn't be talking about her forehead with a nose like that." The leader blinked stupidly at the casual remark coming from the newly arrived boy. Sun kissed hair reached the boy's shoulder and navy blue eyes stared out at the gaggle of bullies with contempt. Finally realizing that he had been insulted the ringleader turned around and scowled at the newcomer._

"_What's wrong with my nose?!" he demanded. His friends sensing a new victim began to encircle the lone boy who stood unmoving even as he was flanked. Faster then the eye could follow, the blonde darted forward and slammed his fist into the bully's nose. The sound of smashed cartilage assaulted the onlooker's ears as the larger boy fell to the ground howling and holding onto his nose. Even with his hands clasped tightly on his nose, blood spurted out between his fingers dying his white shirt a horrifying crimson._

"_It's quiet deformed in my opinion." The blonde boy seemed utterly unaffected by the fact that someone else's blood was coating his fist._

_The other boys seeing their leader fall so easily decided that now was a good time to leave. A piercing glare sent the braver thugs in trainings scampering leaving their boss crying on the floor, holding onto the deformed lump of meat that used to be his nose. _

_Ino had used the distraction of the fleeing boys to work her way over to Sakura who was staring in silent shock at her savior. Nobody had ever managed to stop the harassment by the other children, not even her parents._

"_Come on Sakura," urged the blonde girl, "thank him." Stumbling over her words, the teary eyed Sakura tried to express her gratitude._

"_Tha-ank yo…" The words caught in her throat as the blonde turned around and blue eyes met green. She was not old enough to comprehend what she saw in those eyes, but even not understanding it had frightened her into silence._

"_Come on Sakura!" repeated Ino. Turning around she bowed slightly to their rescuer. "I'm really sorry about my friend, but thank-you." _

_Ignoring the Yamanaka heir, the blonde walked up and squatted before the frozen Sakura staring intently into her eyes._

"_So alike, yet so different you and I." The blonde's pale lips had barely moved as he whispered to himself. "Both shunned by society for something we had no control over."_

_Unconsciously, his left hand fell to and clutched at his belly while his right poked the shocked Sakura's forehead. Standing up, the blonde boy stared down thoughtfully at the immobile girl seated before him. _

"_Do not make the same mistake I did girl." He began to walk away. "If you listen to people long enough, you will really become nothing more then a useless forehead girl."_

**End Dream**

Sakura woke with a start as the odd dream from her past ended. "So alike yet so different" whispered the kunoichi to the darkness cloaking her room. 'I wonder what he meant.'

After Sasuke had entered her life, she had all but forgotten about the blonde boy, but still she had kept his departing words close at heart. The words of others rarely affected her anymore, which explains why she still hasn't given up on Sasuke yet even after being rejected so many times. Normally her dreams revolved around the brooding brunet Uchiha, but the past few nights had been plagued by dreams of her rescuer whom she didn't even have a name for, simply a face.

A soft beeping from her alarm warned her that it was already 5 a.m. and that it was time to get up if she wanted to get to her training in time. Savoring a fifteen minute shower, she arrived in the kitchen to discover both her parents already there and eating. Sitting down at her place to the left of her father, she gave a cheerful "good morning" and began eating the breakfast set down in front of her by her mother.

The meal was taken in silence as the affects of sleep had not fully left the family, but near the end her father spoke up. "So, Sakura you did not mention who would be training you yesterday." The older female Haruno rolled her eyes

"All you could really tell us was how Sasuke-kun was on your team" she teased causing her daughter to blush furiously. "We never even go the name of your other teammate!"

Finally regaining her composure, Sakura fought down her blush and answered her parent's questions. "Well, Hatake Kakashi is my sensei, but he's kinda weird." She made a face as she imagined her tardy sensei wandering into her kitchen. Her parents had shared a glance during their daughters distracting thoughts. Kakashi was one of the few shinobi that even the civilian population was aware of, after all the man was a former Anbu captain who held a shinobi record since age 6, younger then even most of the shinobi's from the harshest of villages. Nobody knew anything concrete, but it was quiet obvious this was not a man you wanted to cross.

"And your other teammate?" prompted her father. Sakura shuddered visibly as she recalled the destruction of the training field wrought by her blonde colleague.

"Uzumaki Naruto." The Haruno male choked while sipping his coffee and began hacking away until the liquid was rejected from his windpipe. A quick backslap from his wife cleared his throat enough for the man to croak out shakily, "The Uzumaki Naruto?!"

"Yeah." Sakura watched in confusion as her parents exchanged shocked looks. "He's the one Kakashi sensei ordered to train me." Two pairs of eyebrows shot up at the unexpected announcement.

"Sakura," began her father, "I want you to be careful around him alright honey?" The girl shuddered again as the former training field came to mind. "And you listen to what that boy teaches you, you hear? He's seen and done a lot, and what he shows you can some day mean the difference between life and death."

Sakura was surprised at her father's reaction, but did not voice the questions burning to spill out of her mouth. "Ok, but I gotta go or I'm going to be late." Standing up, she hugged bother her parents before rushing out the door.

"The Butcher of Cloud, teaching my daughter." The Haruno male shook his head in disbelief. Some things in life truly were unexpected.

"What's the big deal about this Uzumaki kid?" questioned his wife. "Name sounds kinda familiar."

The man shot his wife an incredulous look. "Honey he's the Kyuubi container." The woman gasped as she recalled all the names associated with that boy. "Most the stuff he does is classified to the point even the shinobi don't know much about it" continued her husband, "But everyone's heard of his nicknames: Hunter X, Merciless X, Undying Uzumaki, The Bastard Child of the Devil, and now Butcher of Cloud and kami knows how many other."

A deathly silence fell over the kitchen as the pair complemented the fate destiny had dealt their daughter. "Maybe she'll finally get over the Uchiha" mumbled the Haruno head.

His wife laughed and swatted his shoulder playfully. "It takes a lot more then that to sway our daughter." Her husband groaned as he realized the truth in her words.

**Training Ground 13**

Huffing and puffing, Sakura arrived at the designated training ground with seconds to spare. Stooping over to catch her breath, she eyed the training field looking for her teammate/trainer.

"Good you're here." Squeaking in fright, the pink haired girl spun around to find herself face to, well chin, with Naruto. He was dressed in the same outfit he had worn at the academy and the mask was still in place covering his face completely while the slashed X seemed to glare out at anyone who dared look him straight at him.

For nearly a minute, the blonde stood unmoving studying his assigned student who began to fidget uncomfortably under his scrutiny.

"**Not much to look at huh?" **Naruto could just imagine the wide leer plastered across the Kyuubi's face.

"Umm…sensei?"

"Don't call me sensei" interrupted Naruto. "Naruto will do seeing as we'll be working together." Normally such a statement was said with warmth and friendliness. Naruto's dead tone gave the impression he couldn't care less if she dropped dead and they never spoke to each other again. An awkward silence descended upon the pair as they returned to the one sided staring contest. A few more minutes of hard staring passed by before the blonde moved to cross his arms across his chest.

"Haruno-san, tell me, why did you choose to become a kunoichi?" Sakura was taken aback by the blunt question.

"Well I…"

"Speak truthfully Haruno-san. Whether the reason is noble or selfish, I will not judge you for we all have different reasons for taking on the profession of a killer, but in the end we all do the same thing: kill."

Blushing slightly, the pink haired girl pulled a Hinata and began poking her fingers together nervously. "Well I guess at first it was because my grandma was a shinobi," blushing furiously the girl continued, "but after I joined the academy I guess I did it to impress Sasuke-kun." Not believing what she had just admitted that out loud, Sakura turned a deeper shade of crimson expecting a lecture about the virtues of being a kunoichi for the betterment of the village and it's people and not for such a selfish reason.

But instead, Naruto simply nodded his head slowly. "So you wish to impress the Uchiha?" Now redder then a tomato Sakura nodded hesitantly feeling the warm rush of blood tingling in her cheeks. "Let me tell you a secret Sakura" the kunoichi blinked in surprise and leaned forward to listen to this so called secret. "If you wish to impress the Uchiha, you must become strong."

"**And grow some tits!" **The Kyuubi burst out laughing and rolled around in his cage. "**God I crack myself up." **

"Strong?" questioned the pink haired girl. Naruto nodded an affirmative as his eyebrows twitched behind his mask from the Kyuubi's comment.

"Humans have evolved beyond your baser instincts, but we have not truly left it behind. It is simply that we are no longer in touch with it. Let's take an example." The masked blonde indicated for Sakura to sit and she complied, intrigued by the blonde's words.

"A human's will to live is stronger then our own moral conscious. We all agree that women and children should be given priority in an emergency correct?"

"Yeah," agreed Sakura.

"Yet when an emergency truly emerges, why is it that so many women and children die?"

Thinking hard Sakura answered wither her only conclusion. "Well people panic I guess."

The former hunter-nin nodded in agreement.

"Exactly. This panic overrode their sense of right and wrong, and instead of women and children first, it became a survival of the fittest situation, what all animals humans included are biologically programmed to follow."

Shaking her head in confusion, Sakura raised her hand. "But what does this have to do with Sasuke-kun?"

Ignoring the raised hand the blonde continued speaking, "All humans follow a basic instinct and one of these aspects that it is applied to is finding a mate." Sakura's face burned red at the way Naruto phrased it. "Males instinctively look for a female in a set pattern. Our higher intelligence requires that we find a mate that is compatible intellectually, and appearance wise, but that is only our mind trying to fool us."

The blonde began to pace in front of Sakura who looked ready to crawl into a hole and never come back out. "Why is it that men are attracted to females with larger breasts?" Sakura squirmed slightly at the question. Realizing just how undeveloped hers were, depression began to sink in. "Larger breasts indicates that the female would be more capable of taking care of offspring, which is the goal of most males searching for a mate whether they know it or not."

That wasn't exactly what the kunoichi expected, but she kept what he said in mind. After all, it sorta made sense, in a twisted and totally wrong way. "A common misconception made up by the female intellect is the attraction of males towards a woman of the thinner variety. In truth, this is a warning sign that the female is unhealthy and incapable of bearing let alone rearing offspring."

"Wait that's not true!" burst out Sakura. It just couldn't be! That would mean that she had wasted away for nothing.

"Oh?" asked Nartuto who had stopped in front of her. "Think back to all of the women you know that have given rise to offspring. How many are the stick thin figures most women today seem to idolize so much?" Images of her mother and all her married friends flashed across her mind's eye, and none of them were really hitting the skinny category. Casting about desperately for a memory of any married woman that could refute the blonde's argument, she came up blank.

"If you truly wish to attract the Uchiha, my advice to you would be to gain some weight. Of course obesity is a warning sign of the incapability in a woman to control her eating habit, something nobody wants in a mother who has to feed her children." Seeing that he was getting no response from the shell shocked girl in front of him, he began pacing again.

"I suppose that all males will look for a pretty face, but second to that is strength. This does not necessarily indicate physical strength. A strong will is very attractive to males according to my observations, as it shows an unwillingness to give into any situation. A strong female can attract more males even if she is not physically appealing as a weaker woman. This would also explain why kunoichis are so sought after and prized in the male population." Sakura perked up slightly as she continued listening to the pacing blonde's explanation

"Kunoichi are strong and taught to have an iron will. Already they fulfill two of the four elements a male looks for instinctively. So since your goal is to make the Uchiha your mate," poor Sakura looked ready to commit seppuku right there, "then you must become stronger as a kunoichi before he will even consider courting you." Looking thoughtfully over his female student, he indicated for her to get up.

"And hopefully you'll put on a few pounds along the way." Getting up and thinking hard over what her teammate had just told her, she realized that what he said while put in a very tactless and tasteless way, held some weight in the truth of the mater.

"**And being a guy, he no doubt knows this from first hand experience!" **shouted Inner Sakura. Feeling extremely gloomy, Sakura realized she didn't really fit any of the criteria. She wasn't that strong even when compared to girls her own age, she was flat as an ironing board, thin as stick and her will power had never really been tested. Her confidence shot to hell, the girl decided to inquire her temporary sensei's thoughts on what attracted a female to a male.

"So what about girls?" The boy in front of her cocked his head to the side.

"What about them?" Sighing in exasperation she clarified.

"What attracts them to a guy?" The blonde shrugged in response.

"From what I know?" Sakura nodded eagerly. "One, the males must be healthy and possess desirable traits, and two the male must be capable of helping in rearing the offspring." Seeing the lost look on his student's face, Naruto clarified. "A female first looks for a male that is strong. Physical size is a good indication of a healthy male. My sister once mentioned that women find scars attractive, is this so?"

Sakura's cheeks flushed as she imagined a scar on Sasuke's body. 'So SEXY!' Inner Sakura was having a minor seizure from all the images of a naked Sasuke with scars being conjured by Sakura's mind.

"Scars indicate battle, and being scarred for male shows he has survived battle, another indication of strength. I suppose that is why so many women find the Uchiha so attractive."

A reason for why she had so many rivals? She always assumed it was his dark and aloof attitude. "Though he bears no physical scars on his body, the fact that he survived the Uchiha massacre indicates strength and a will to survive."

'I guess that makes sense.' Was that really why she liked Sasuke? It seemed so…primitive.

"Regardless, to attain your goal of being Uchiha-san's mate, you became a kunoichi which shows that on a primal level you recognized what the kunoichi represents, a strong woman." Beckoning her to follow him, he led them over to a tall nearly 200 foot tree. "If my hunch is correct, then you should have nearly perfect chakra control, so this exercise should be mastered quickly."

Curiosity peaked; she watched Naruto put his right foot against the tree. Her jaw dropped as he followed through with his left and walked calmly up the side of the tree. Stopping at around 20 feet, he drew a kunai and sent it deep into the earth between Sakura's feet. "Gather chakra to your feet and run up the tree. Use the kunai to mark where you stop."

Dropping down, he landed gracefully next to Sakura. Seeing his student's shocked expression he sighed to himself. "Yes?"

"How did you focus your chakra without the ram seal?"

"Once you gain some experience with this exercise you should be able to utilize your chakra internally without any need for handseals." Nodding in understanding, the pink haired kunoichi picked up the blade from the ground and formed a ram seal to focus her chakra to her feet. Steeling her body she rushed the tree, sprinting up as fast as she could half praying she wouldn't fall while the other half was screaming in excitement at her gravity defying action.

'As expected, with her chakra control she was already capable of running to the top.' Unable to control her downward momentum, Sakura ended up jumping the remaining 15 feet. Wincing at the pain of having bones jammed harshly together, she stood up shakily and smiled proudly at Naruto.

"I did it!"

"**Damn Stragiht!!" **shouted Inner Sakura who had finally recovered.

"As I said, you would master this quickly, but even I did not expect this." Beaming proudly, Sakura deflated like a punctured balloon when she heard the rest of his words.

"Your chakra stores must be microscopic for you to have this much control." Ignoring the gloomy girl he continued speaking. "Sakura, I want you to climb up and down this tree until you run out of chakra."

Pulling out an electronic timer, he set it. "But first, I want you to make the 12 basic handseals as fast as you can.: Seeing her tense up in preparation for the hand movements, he nodded the go ahead. The bleep of the timer signaled the start. 5.73 seconds later Naruto hit the stop button while frowning behind his mask. Back at the academy an average of 2 handseals per second was pretty good, but in real life it wasn't close to good enough. Resetting the timer he tossed it to Sakura who caught the unexpected projectile purely on reflex.

"Time me." Sakura nodded a go and clicked the timer. Her jaws dropped when he stopped at 1.53 seconds later

"How…?" she stuttered. Beneath his mask Naruto's frown deepened.

"A shinobi of Kakashi-sensei's caliber should be able to complete all 12 handseals in less than 2 seconds. My skills are at the same level if not better then Kakashi-sensei's." Retrieving the timer he reset it. "You are far too slow Sakura perhaps good enough to beat a genin, but sluggish in comparison to real ninja. I want you to continue making the 12 handseals as fast as you can, without mistake that is, while climbing the tree. This will test your concentration while we measure your chakra stores."

Sitting down cross legged, Naruto shut his eyes and began to meditate. After sitting still for a few minutes he grew annoyed at the staring girl. "What are you waiting for?" he barked frightening Sakura.

Hurriedly she scampered to the base of the tree and made the ram seal. Focusing her chakra into the soles of her feet she took off up the tree nearly forgetting to make the handseals. Halfway up the tree she began making the handseals and nearly fell off the tree as she loss focus with the chakra adhering her to the bark under her feet.

'This is harder then I thought.'

**45 minutes later**

A panting Sakura inhaled and exhaled heavily as she landed on the ground. Falling onto her back, she savored the feel of the cool damp grass against her sweat stained back. "Oh ick.."

Naruto had remained in the sitting position under the branches with his back rigid, unmoving the entire time Sakura had sprinted up and down the tree. The first 10 minutes had been hard as the repeated handseal exercise while controlling her chakra had mixed Sakura up. Somewhere around the 15 minute mark she had finally gotten the hang of it and no longer needed to focus with the ram seal in order to focus chakra to her feet every time she was headed back up. Closing her eyes, Sakura felt a shadow cover her face, blocking out the 7:30 a.m. sunlight.

"Get up." The calm order from the blonde didn't get any movement out of the exhausted girl. "I said get up." This time, his frigid words were backed up by a burst of concentrated killing intent. The brief stab of terror stimulated Sakura's survival instincts and she was on her feet in the blink of an eye, legs trembling whether from exhaustion of fright was unknown.

"I'm up! I'm up!" Her heart rate finally dropped as the crushing feeling lifted. Facing her sensei she saw that he was shaking his head causing his long mane of golden hair to swish back and forth hypnotically.

"Have you really exhausted all your chakra?" Her bobbing head elicited another sigh from the masked blonde. "We have a lot of work to do then. Even the freshest genin should be able to keep this up for half a day." The kunoichi hung her head as she felt shame well up in her leaving a bitter taste in her mouth.

"But no matter, that's why we are training." Reaching into his supply pouch tied to his waste, the blonde rummaged about for whatever it was he was looking for. "Haruno-san, which is your dominant hand?"

"Uhh… right why?" Pulling out two pieces of blank ordinary looking paper, he handed it over to the confused girl.

"Listen closely Haruno-san because I'm only explaining this once." By now the pink haired girl could finally detect a difference in her teammate/sensei's voice. She would latter dub this his sensei voice, bland as always, but if you listened closely, you'll hear a hint of boredom mixed in alongside annoyance.

"There are 5 basic elements that a ninja can manipulate with ninjutsu. Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, and Lightening. Wind is the war element, and no other element can match it in terms of wide scale destruction. Fire is mostly used for small controlled areas of destruction unlike wind which follows the spray and pray concept. Lightening based jutsu's are usually more compact and used to strike at a singly target, however the damage inflicted is usually fatal due to the concentrated power. Together, these three elements are often referred to as the offensive elements seeing as they usually revolve around destruction in some way or another." By now Sakura's brain was on overdrive working furiously to remember everything that left Naruto's unseen lips.

"Earth is the defensive element as it involves mostly defensive style techniques, and the few offensive jutsu's that use earth can most often still be used for defensive purposes as well. Finally there is the water element, the assassination element. This is the most versatile element of all, utilizing offensive and defensive techniques equally. It can hide you, trap others, or smother your enemies before they know what hit them. Because of this versatility, water cannot match the other elements in terms of defense or offense. Are you following?" Sakura's head bobbed up and down furiously as she silently cursed the fact she didn't have any paper or pens with her. Why didn't the academy teach something interesting like this?

"Now each person has a major elemental affinity. Whichever element you favor the most, you will be able to master and control that type of ninjutsu much faster then any other element. You will find that it responds more strongly towards your chakra, meaning that compared to someone without the affinity using the same amount of chakra for the same jutsu would produce a noticeably greater result for you. People also have a minor affinity, an element they can learn easily. However the power and control of the major affinity will not be present, you will simply find it easier to learn ninjutsu of this elemental type."

Pausing to see if Sakura had any questions, Naruto continued his dry monotonous lecture.

"Now each of the elements also has a weakness for another element. Fire consumes wind, wind cuts through and disperses lightening, lightening breaks and shatters earth barriers, earth absorbs water, and of course water douses fire."

"Oh I get it! It's kinda like rock paper scissors except with 5 different elements instead of 3 right?"

"Unfortunately, no." Seeing his students confused expression he elaborated. "Techniques are separated by rank from D to A and of course S class being the highest. Two elements of the same level clashing will go according to your rock paper scissor analogy where the stronger element wins. However if a C rank fire jutsu were to be pitted against a B rank wind jutsu, the outcome would either be a negation or the wind may overpower the fire depending on the amount of chakra put behind each technique by the user. If they are beyond more then one rank then the higher ranked jutsu almost always wins, but neutralization is not impossible or unheard of if the user of the weaker jutsu is skilled enough."

Understanding dawned and Sakura nodded. Feeling her wristwatch beep, she was surprised to see that it was already 8. She had been so drawn into Naruto's lecture she barely noticed 30 minutes pass where as Iruka seemed to drone on and on forever. "Ok I get it now, but what are these papers for?"

"These papers are made from a special tree sensitive towards chakra. By channeling chakra into the paper you will find your elemental affinity. If fire, the paper will take on a burnt quality, wind element is indicated by a splitting of the paper. If it disintegrates, it is earth. Crumpling specifies lightening, and finally dampness means you have a water affinity." Taking each paper in a different hand, Sakura focused her chakra and watched in delight as the one in her right hand dampened and the one in her left scrunched up.

"So how do we know which is the major and which is the minor?" asked Sakura. 'Academy was never this interesting!' In less then 2 hours she had learned about the inner workings of men, and the technical nick nack behind ninjutsu.

"Your dominant hand is your major element" grunted Naruto in reply as he took the two pieces of paper and discarded them. "Now another thing you should know is that people never have opposing elements naturally. Your minor element will never be stronger then your major element. Since you have water as your major affinity, then it would normally be impossible to have earth as a minor element, however there are some bloodlines that allow people to have conflicting affinities." Absorbing the information into her mind she nodded to indicate that she understood.

"You will find that learning your opposing elements will be extremely hard."

"Really?"

"Yes, since you have water as your major element, earth will be the hardest for you to master. Even if you do learn earth techniques, you will never be good at it. Wind will be the second hardest element for you to master seeing as lightening is your minor affinity, and fire will be your neutral element, the one that will not be easy or hard to master in comparison to the other four elements." Sakura nodded her head vigorously as she listened in rapt attention.

"It is a good thing that your two elements match."

"Match?" questioned Sakura.

"Yes, you recall how I mentioned these were the five basic elements?" Remembering the beginning of the lecture, she nodded once more. "The five basic elements can be combined to form the greater elements. Water conducts lightening, a very lethal mixture if combined properly. Once mastered, your water and lightening jutsus will be extremely dangerous, rendering people unconscious upon contact, even death."

Now intrigued by the new development, Sakura showed why she was the number one academic kunoichi. "What other greater elements are there?"

Shrugging the blonde thought a moment before speaking. "Who knows? The greater elements are created through specific ratios of chakra in each type of elements, so even opposing elements can be combined together if done correctly. Wind and water forms ice, water and earth forms mud, earth and fire forms stone, wind and fire creates greater flames hotter then any normal fire techniques of the same class." Shrugging again the blonde continued speaking. "And of course there are the elder elements."

"Elder?" inquired a curious Sakura whose head was already spinning from all the information.

"Yes, when three elements are combined together to form a new one."

"Three?!"

"It's nearly impossible to learn such techniques, and usually requires a certain bloodline or gene defect or some other outside factor affecting them. I know of only three such elder elements." Seeing the eager look on the kunoichi he sighed.

'I hate teaching'

"**Heh, I wonder how you got shanghighed into this?"**

'It's not like you can just leave my body and do something else either Kyuubi.'

"…"

"One would be our own first Hokage, the wood element. Earth water and wind combined together, and of course a special trait only in his bloodline allows him to bring life from nothing but chakra. For a normal person, being able to combine together earth water and wind wouldn't do him any good since he can't create wood without the shodaime's bloodline ability. I know of one who combines fire and earth to create stone and breaks it down with wind to form sand. And finally there is molten rock, a creation of one of our own shinobi. Water mixed with earth creates mud and heated into lava by fire."

"Who made lava?" Naruto stared at Sakura for a good long while as she fidgeted uncomfortable wondering if she had crossed an invisible line somewhere with her question.

"There is a reason why my sister is considered the most powerful kunoichi in Konoha." Realizing that Naruto must have been comparing herself with his sister, Sakura felt a blush of embarrassment flush her face. Oh how weak she felt when compared to a woman who had achieved skill on the level of the shodaime.

"There are perhaps other elder elements people have discovered, but I am only familiar with those three."

"Umm Naruto?" Raising her hand slightly she got that feeling that Naruto was frowning behind his mask.

"This isn't a classroom Sakura, just ask your question."

Feeling chastised, she lowered her hand. "You said that two and even three elements can be combined together even if they are naturally repulsed by each other. Is it possible to combine four, or even five?"

"You speak of the god elements. Theoretically, it is possible to entwine 4 of the basic elements, but the control and precision necessary is inhuman. Only the Bijuu were ever capable of mixing more then 3 elements together without it blowing up in their face."

"**Heh damn right I did." **Guess who said that?

"And as for 5 elements, legends say should all 5 ever be united then it is the beginning of the end for mankind." Having never heard such a legend, Sakura was quiet interested in what it was about.

"So what's the legend about?" Sighing internally, Naruto resigned himself to more explaining. 'I thought I was to be a genin, not an instructor.'

"**When you're the Hokage's personal bitch, you really don't have a choice do you?"**

'Shut up.'

"To make a long story short, the 5 elements represent Nature, which mankind has constantly strived to tame. Mother Nature is the most powerful force on the planet, for no matter how godly a shinobi may become, they are helpless in the face of Nature's wrath such as a tornado, tsunami, earthquake, etc. But each of these disasters combines only 2 to 3 elements of nature. Should all 5 unite together against mankind, there is no possible way to survive that ultimate disaster. And so the story goes that should man attain all 5 elements together they can control nature herself and so on. Personally, I believe this story was told to make ourselves feel better for not being able to combine the 5 elements together, but as with all legends there is a bit of truth. "

"Truth?" asked Sakura.

"Should all 5 elements be seen together on the same battlefield on opposing sides, that usually means that all 5 shinobi nations are at war, which would be the signal to the beginning of another great war, one to end all wars, or end humanity anyways" he answered dismissively.

Having never spoken so much before, Naruto felt a slight pain in his vocal cords as they protested at the abuse they had taken in the past two hours. "But enough discussion, we are here to train you. First we will go eat to replenish your chakra, and then we will continue your studies." Turning around, the blonde walked off the training field with Sakura trailing closely behind.

**Ichiraku Ramen Stand**

Normally, Sakura wouldn't be found dead eating such unhealthy, not to mention fattening food such as ramen, but today was an exception. The lecture about what attracted men, her hunger from the intense training, and an overall fear of what Naruto may do to her had Sakura on her second bowl of beef ramen. Of course, this was nothing in comparison to Naruto who had finished twice her amount and was on his fifth pork ramen. The meal had been taken in relative silence with the splashing of broth and slurping of noodles being the only background noise.

A soft clunk broke Sakura out of her thoughts as a fifth dish was added to the small pile in front of her temporary sensei. "Will you eat more?"

Sakura shook her head no. Hungry she was, but by no means was she trying to outdo Chouji in the looks department. "Check please"

Slightly surprised that Naruto would be paying for her, the kunoichi colored slightly as she realized this could indeed be considered a date. It met all the criteria of a date, a guy and a girl eating together alone, the guy paying for the bill, and Naruto had asked her (well more like ordered her) to dine with him.

'Uhh I bet even Shino could be more romantic' thought Sakura as she finished the last of her ramen. Standing up, she bowed a quick thank-you to the rather attractive waitress before hurrying after the retreating Naruto who was already halfway down the street. The silence hung uncomfortably between them the entire way to the training field.

When they finally arrived, Naruto sat down and Sakura followed his example. The blonde ex-hunter-nin pulled out a set of scrolls from his supply pouch and tossed them over to a surprised Sakura who caught them awkwardly, nearly dropping them on the ground. Examining the identical looking scrolls, she saw that they were labeled differently, one with a 1 and the other with a 2.

"The first scroll is a detailed picture of the human nervous system that you may be familiar with from the academy, however these scrolls are actually the training manual for hunter-nins. All hunter-nin candidates are required to memorize these two scrolls by heart just to take the hunter-nin examination to qualify them for a hunter-nin license. The scrolls will teach you how to temporarily disable your opponent allowing for quick victory. If done properly, some of these techniques will permanently cripple or even kill your adversary, so don't go practicing on someone." Standing up, Naruto straightened out his slightly ruffled clothing.

"The first scroll shows you the weak points to the body, and the second will show you how to take advantage of them, and why the body reacts the way it does." Staring sternly down at her through the mask, Naruto continued. "What I am showing you is given to aspiring hunter-nins, however most medics are also aware of such information. That is one of the options available to a kunoichi with your level of control. It would take years of training to get your chakra up to the level of a ninjutsu master, and I highly doubt you have the dedication nor the pain tolerance necessary to become a taijutsu master. If we were in Suna, you would make an excellent puppeteer, but since we are in Konoha, you are limited to the options of genjutsu, medical or perhaps weapon specialization. For now I will train you in all three areas as best as I can, but I don't specialize in any of these areas so I will allow you to choose what path you wish to follow once I have taught you all I can. As for ninjutsu and taijutsu, bother are my forte, and so I will get you up to speed in those two skills in which you are weakest."

Checking the time, he continued speaking coldly. "I will give you one hour to rest after your meal during which I want you to read those two scrolls I gave you." A quick pop and Naruto vanished in a puff of smoke before Sakura could even say anything. Realizing that she didn't have anything better to do, the girl sad down under the base of the tree she had trained on and began reading.

**Exactly 1 hour later**

So concentrated over the scrolls given to her, Sakura didn't even notice Naruto walk into the training field. 'At least she is willing to improve.'

A deep menacing chuckle reverberated in Naruto's mindscape. **"So now the real training begins."**

'Yes, it is time to see if she really has what it takes to become a kunoichi.'

"**This ought to be entertaining. If she doesn't break down and cry, you can call me sugar-daddy" **barked the Kyuubi.

"Haruno-san." Startled by her temporary sensei's voice, she checked her watch and saw that it was already 10:15 a.m., exactly one hour since she started.

"**Awww man and it was just getting interesting!" **huffed Inner Sakura unhappily. And indeed it was, as she had been halfway through reading about a nerve in the lover spine that if stimulated with chakra properly would cause the target to lose control of his bowels…for days.

Standing up, Sakura stretched and rolled up the two scrolls before hading them towards Naruto who shook his head. "Those scrolls are yours now; I know all of it by heart. They would be more useful in your possession." Smiling happily Sakura stored away the scrolls in her supply pouch. Those would make interesting reading material before bed.

Realizing with a start that those scrolls were perhaps the first gifts she had received from a boy her age, Sakura sighed unhappily. She had hoped Sasuke would be the one to give her a gift seeing as they were on the same team. "Haruno-san, we will meet Kakashi-sensei and Uchiha-san by the river at noon, but until then we will be doing some physical exercise. Stretch."

Following the blonde's example, the girl began mimicking Naruto's stretching motions. A good three minutes later loosened their muscles up to a point where they wouldn't hurt themselves doing any strenuous exercises. "You are aware how chakra is created?" asked Naruto.

"Pretty much; stamina is converted into the physical aspect of chakra or the life energy, and that is combined with the spiritual aspect which comes from our state of mentality and together they form chakra" recited Sakura.

"Is that all?" questioned Naruto. Confused by Naruto's question the girl shrugged.

"Well that's what the academy taught us." Sighing audibly, the blonde once again resigned himself to more explaining.

"All right listen up; the explanation you gave me is the most basic way to explain chakra. You are correct in saying that stamina is the life source of chakra. The life source also happens to be the physical aspect of chakra. Every time you use a jutsu, it is the life energy that backs up the technique. Let's say you use a fire jutsu; then the flames themselves are fueled by your stamina, or life energy."

"But then what's the point of spiritual energy?" asked a perplexed Sakura.

"Spiritual energy is the control aspect of chakra. It controls and shapes the life energy being expelled form your body. Let's take that fire jutsu as an example once more. Your body dumps a raw amount of physical energy into your lungs, as you spew it out through your windpipe why does it not burn you?"

Thinking for a few moments, Sakura pondered the question. 'Yeah, I mean I've seen Sasuke-kun do it, why doesn't it burn his esophagus?'

"The life energy in your lungs is just that, life energy. It has yet to be converted into the fire element. As you breathe out, the chakra is forced from your lungs and out of your mouth. Your spiritual energy then converts the raw life force into flames as it exits your mouth. Have you seen the Uchiha do it?" Seeing her nod Naruto continued.

"Then you'll recall that he puts his hand in front of his mouth?" There was another nod, this time with a bit of understanding showing in her face. "His hand whether he knew it or not was filled with spiritual energy as was his mouth. The spirit energy in his mouth converts the raw life force into flames, and the energy in his hand controlled the shape and size of the fire."

"Is this true for all jutsus?" asked an intrigued Sakura.

"More or less" answered the blonde. "An earth jutsu has our body channeling our life energy into the earth around us. The charged earth particles can then be manipulated by our spiritual energy, usually released from the feet or hands. This is similar in both water and wind techniques. We charge the air or water with our stamina converted life force, and then control the charged particles with our spiritual energy. Fire is unique in that we are simply harnessing the flames directly from our chakra, something usually not found in the environment or our bodies. Lightening jutsus are harnessed from bioelectricity. Our body mimics the electrical signals in our body and amplifies it to power its destructiveness. Fire however doesn't exist in our body so it takes a lot of pure life energy to produce flames since we're not simply charging or converting already existing elements."

"Geez! Iruka-sensei made it sound so much easier" whined Sakura. The masked genin shrugged.

"Now most normal humans have a ratio of 1:5 in terms of spiritual to life energy. Every time we draw upon our chakra, we exert that ratio of spiritual vs. life energy. Most jutsu's are designed with this ratio in mind which is why normal shinobi don't have problems learning it; however, for someone like me, who was born with an abnormal ratio of chakra, learning techniques for me was nearly impossible until I balanced back out my ratio of spirit vs. life force. You Haruno-san, most likely have close to a 1:1 ratio, but this isn't usually a problem since too much control won't hinder most jutsu's. However, with your low amount of stamina, you will find learning most ninjutsus to be quiet the task."

Sakura frowned as her mind processed Naruto's explanation. "You said you managed to balance out your chakra, how do I do that?"

The blonde stared down quietly at the girl, as if considering if she was ready for the truth. "I'll be honest with you Haruno-san. The only way to gain life energy is through hard manual labor, and lots of it. You will sweat and bleed for every ounce of life energy you gain." Seeing the girl pale, he shook his head. "If you begin training with me, here and now, you will either become the best you can be, or you will die trying."

His crystal blue eyes seemed to stare down into Sakura's very soul, judging her. "If you follow me, I'll show you your limits, and we will break those limits to reach your maximum potential. If you choose not to, then go to the Hokage's office and hand in your headband." With that said, the blonde took off towards the village gates at a steady pace leaving behind a Sakura deep in turmoil.

**5 minutes later**

Naruto jogged steadily taking in the passing scenery of the bustling village. **"You think she'll come?" **

'Who can say?' A flash of pink from is peripheral vision caught his attention. A few seconds later, Sakura slowed down from her sprint to match Naruto's jogging pace.

'Perhaps there is hope for her still.' Not acknowledging the girl besides him, Naruto continued to lead her at the same steady pace he had started out at. After another 10 minutes at the same pace, he slowed down to a halt and his pink haired shadow followed suit. "Since this is your first trial, we will start off easy, 25 pushups then 50 sit-ups and squats." Not bothering to see if the girl would follow his orders, the blonde genin began his own set of 100 pushups followed by 200 sit-ups and squats.

Feeling a bit awkward not to mention exposed, Sakura dropped down and began to do the set of exercise as Naruto had ordered. Unsurprisingly, Naruto finished first. After Sakura finished her final squat with a groan, the blonde once more took off at a steady pace, this time with a tired Sakura lagging behind slightly.

**Blossom's Bridge**

By the time 11:30 rolled around, Sakura was beyond exhausted. At the 1 hour mark, her arms felt like weighted lead, her legs nothing more then a source of agony, her abdomen needled with pain, and with each breath she took, her screaming lungs forced her to regret her choice of trying to live. After the 1 hour mark, she had felt surprisingly good.

The pain had begun to fade and a sudden rush of energy left her light-headed with happiness. Having never pushed her body so hard, Sakura had never felt the drug like effects of endorphin, the bodies natural pain killer, and was currently high as a cocaine addict in Colombia.

In fact, she was so far our of it, her mind didn't even register the fact that they had arrived at their team meeting point and her crush was currently right in front of her. She simply stopped because Naruto had, and instantly dropped onto the ground to do her set of exercises.

It was after she finished and she saw that Naruto wasn't moving did she finally take in her surroundings and come face to face with a bemused Sasuke and an impressed Kakashi. 'Naruto certainly deserves my respect if he can get a girl like that to work that hard on the first day of training' thought Kakashi.

"Well team, today is the big day, where we go on our first mission together! So lets get to it!" Seeing Sakura collapsed on the floor and unresponsive, Kakashi did a quick 360.

"After a short break of course." Honestly he should get that eye-smile of his patented.

AN: Well there's the first training day. Not a lot of action, but it's basically an outline of how shit works in my version of Naruto. Feel free to pick my brain if you're confused by anything.


	14. Wow What Happened?

**AN: yeaaaaahhh so been like what four years since I updated? Recently I lost interest in the Naruto manga (I'm expecting somebody to go supersaiyan at any moment. Oh wait Nartuo already did!) so I decided to going back to my own works in that field. Not sure if anyone that read this story is still around, but I'd love to hear from you guys! And I will be introducing a theme song for my characters. Probably do that for every chapter before this now that I'm going about revising the story (dang some of my writing is . ) **

**Naruto Uzumaki: I will not bow by Breaking Benjamin**

The murky lake water shimmered with odd light in the dimly lit forest. A soft gentle breeze pushed through the low lit clearing, playfully rustling the overhanging leaves on the verge of changing colors for the coming autumn. A bird landed on a branch and peered about in the quiet forest checking for any signs of danger. Seeing none, the winged creature broke out into a whistling song filled with high chirps and notes too sharp for human ears.

A doe slowly stalked into the clearing, head bent down as her mouth worked away at the blades of dew covered grass sprinkled across the untouched floor. Her ears twitched back and forth, perking up with each high note the bird sang. Suddenly the creatures ears perked up and the doe's head rose up from the ground to peer about in the shadowed forest grounds. Deep amber eyes scanned for danger, but after a moment the doe relaxed and returned to feeding.

As it fed, the doe moved closer to the mini lakes edge, clearing out the nearby ground of any edible plant life. At last it reached the muddy banks and moved it's neck over the edge and peered down at it's own reflection. The mirror image in the water gazed back in confusion, a reflection of it's owner's own expression. After a while, the doe seemed to lose interest in it's look alike, and instead lowered it's head to the water so that it may drink.

The water rippled near where her mouth touched the surface and as she drank, a second ripple bounced back towards her face. Pulling its head back, the doe peered down in curiosity at the strange ripple of water that had brushed up against it's nose.

Water exploded upwards in an instant, and an arm snatched the doe's head in a vice like grip, fingers almost tearing off the frightened creatures flap like ears. Dragging the bucking animal into the water a second hand pierced out from beneath the murky depths, this one holding a sharp kunai. The blade sank easily into the doe's throat and with a mighty pull, the waters began to darken with red as a cascade of gore poured down into the lake.

The arms wrapped tightly around the dying creatures neck and dragged it into the water where it's flailing began to slow as blood lost began to darken the creature's vision. With a final feeble kick of it's hind leg, the doe fell silent and the body vanished beneath the depths of the dark lake water. The songbird continued to chirp away in it's perch above the bloody scene, sounding it's merriment for the world to hear, oblivious to the life that had just been so swiftly snuffed out below it.

As the lake waters settled back to it's serene untouched mirror like surface, the natural ambient sounds of the forest once more became audible. Joining the songbird's tune was the creek of some insect and the croak of an amphibian from the far side of the lake. Another breeze pushed through the small clearing, adding it's soft whisper punctured by the crackle of dry leaves to the symphony played by mother nature.

From the far side of the lake almost 200 meters from where the doe had previously stood, another ripple broke out on the calm liquid surface. A dark amber shadow ghosted along the surface before becoming a dark red. Finally as the waters parted, a mop of pink became visible, shortly followed by green eyes that scanned the muddy banks. Narrowing her gaze, Sakura reached out with her senses, trying to pinpoint her teammate who was currently filling in the role of sensei. Feeling nothing, she allowed herself a victorious grin from below the water and slowly made her way out of the dirty lake and onto solid ground.

The soft thump of something heavy landing in the forest ground caused the girl to close her eyes and groan to herself internally.

'Damn he did it again.'

"That was sloppy work Haruno." Damn he was using her last name. He only used her last name in two situations, expressing disappointment and letting her know he was upping her training routine again.

The ivory mask with it's red cross shaped imperfection appeared from the dark foliage. The blue eyes that stared out from beneath the mask were hard chips of ice, a sharp contrast to the monotone he delivered most his words with. Even after having spent an entire month under the private tutelage of her esteemed teammate, Sakura still couldn't shake off the chills whenever their eyes met. There was something inhuman about him, as if what lay underneath the mask was not flesh and blood but steel and wire, a mannequin shaped like a boy after it's creator had breathed into it life but never having taught him how to truly be human.

Stifling the sigh that was threatening to spill from her lips the young girl hung her head.

'**WTF is he talking about? It was perfect this time!' **Inner Sakura was not so tame with her reaction to her current teacher's five word evaluation of her performance.

"Granted you pulled off the kill with much more ease this time and managed to close in on the target without it's notice, there were still a few areas where you made mistakes." Solid arms like steel bars folded across a rather well developed chest for a twelve year old. "Your approach was not perfect, there was a moment before which you struck when the target had become aware of an unusual presence."

Biting back another sigh, Sakura rolled her left shoulder which had felt like it had nearly been dislocated by the bucking of the deer. The ripple that had alerted the doe to her approach moments before she struck had not actually been caused by untimely movement on her part. She had actually needed to sneeze, and had barely manage to stifle the reflexive reaction to the itch in her nostril by clamping down hard with her teeth. Nonetheless she had forcefully blinked as that was one of the few reactions no one could overcome when sneezing, even when it was a stifled one, and it had been the cause of the tiny ripple that had warned the doe moments before it's demise. Of course Naruto wouldn't take that as an excuse. Shinobi were perfect tools, inhumanly efficient. Of course they didn't need to sneeze!

_**Somewhere in Tea Country**_

Itachi clenched his teeth as hard as he could praying to whatever deities that may be listening that it would be enough. It wasn't. An explosive squeaking nose escaped from his nose like a stifled fart. His eyelid clenched shut out of reflex, and the Uchiha could feel the air pressure back out his eyeballs with a squirt of tears. The same backed up pressure also blew out his left eardrum with a dull crack.

In a blur of motion, his target exploded from above the tree Itachi had been carefully creeping towards for the past 8 hours and took off for the sunrise at an unbelievable pace.

"GOD DAMN IT ITACHI!" The inhuman roar sounded oddly stifled coming in from his left ear as if he were submerged underwater, giving way to an odd stereo effect as his unhindered ear delivered his partners yell at more normal volumes.

Rubbing his nose furiously, and wiping away at the tears in his eyes Itachi let loose an quiet groan to cover up his desire to scream and jump up and down in place like a denied two year old. Uchiha had too much dignity to do something so childish, even if he had been sneaking in the underbrush for the past 8 hours inching his way towards their twitchy target. Kisame on the other hand had no such inhibition as he furiously displayed a grown man's version of a toddler's tantrum.

_**Forest **_

"Slashing the jugular is an excellent way to quickly kill a target when a kunai blade is the only weapon on your person. However it is one of the more messy methods for killing and leaves behind a lot of hard to clean up evidence. The area from where you made the kill still bears evidence for what happened, and any skilled shinobi would be able to deduce what had taken place given a careful examination. Furthermore, your disposal of the target's body was unacceptable. Dragging the target into the water to drown it while increased the speed in which the termination process occurred also increased the amount of noise made as it moved about in it's death throes. Again a skilled shinobi in the vicinity would have noticed the sounds of struggle and intercepted you. You are no use to the village if you die along with your target."

By now Sakura was gazing down at her feet in shame. Even after a month of training under the watchful eye of her teammate she still wasn't as good as he wanted her to be. Unable to keep the sigh of disappointment at her own performance back any longer, she let loose the breath in an defeated fashion.

Realizing that her teammate had stop speaking, the top ranking academic kunoichi of her year looked up into the steady gaze of the blonde in front of her. The orbs that gazed out from beneath the mask held an indistinguishable expression in them and Sakura wondered what her teammate was thinking.

"I offer you criticism so that you may improve on your flaws Sakura. Do not mistaken that as you having not improved. Compared to the girl who fell into my care a month ago, you are as different as the moon is from the sun."

Green eyes widened in astonishment as her mind processed what she had heard. Not once in the month that she had spent training until she shed blood and tears underneath her harsh taskmaster had he offered one word of encouragement. Silence had punctuated her struggles, the only acknowledgement received for her hard work was even harder work.

Sakura had spent her academy years soaking in praise from the teachers for her always perfect test papers and ability to flawlessly cast out henges and bunshin. Her parents had always been the encouraging sort, believing that positive reinforcement being the best teaching method for good behavior. It was something she simply took for granted as part of life. Never once had she truly appreciated just how much a few words of phrase could mean to her.

"**Yeaaaaahhhhhh still nowhere near good, but she's gotten better." **The deep rumble of the Kyuubi's voice echoed in Naruto's head, but the blonde ignored his lifelong companion's wisecrack.

"Today is our last day we train together. I have equipped you with as much knowledge as I can in the past month we have spent as disciple and student."

Taking a step forward the blonde studied his fellow genin's face. "I have established the foundations necessary to become a good ninja that the academy seems to have failed to train you in. It is now up to you to forge your own path as a shinobi. I will see you at the bridge at noon Sakura." Without so much as a goodbye her teammate vanished in a puff of smoke.

'Foundations? He considers this stuff foundations?!' If indeed the knowledge and skills she had accumulated in the past month were to be considered 'foundations' of a good shinobi, the academy had indeed failed in all aspects of preparing her for the real world she mused

Reaching back to grab her hair, her hands snatched at air as the habits of a lifetime had yet to catch up to the fact that there was nothing to grab. Her once luscious shoulder length hair had been neatly trimmed back into a shorter more efficient bob cut that barely graced her neck. It had not been some deliberate decision to change her image to match her new outlook as a kunzite; in fact it had been a rather spur of the moment improvising tactic involving a kunai knife to release Naruto's hold on her hair during one of their many grueling sparring matches.

She had barely flinched as she had torn of the once proud lengths that she had so carefully maintained with a regiment of conditioner and special exotic scented shampoo. It only went to show how much she had changed in the brutal sessions under Naruto's intense training methods. The blonde appeared to be a big believer in the sink or swim philosophy, and more times than she wanted to remember, Sakura had come pretty damn close to sinking.

Leaping up into the foliage high above the ground, Sakura began her trek back to civilization where a hot shower and breakfast was hopefully waiting for her at home. She had spent the past two days in the outback's tracking the damn doe Naruto had marked with a color pen on it's fur and waiting for the moment to make a perfect kill just as she had been taught by her blonde comrade in arms. He had of course shadowed her the entire time, and knowing that, she had taken extra care to make as little mistakes as possible, covering her scent with the natural musk of the forest, eating and drinking only when it was absolutely unbearable. Yes, she had gotten used to roughing it with her time spent under the thumbs of her teammate. But damn that shower and meal was going to feel good.

_**Konoha market street**_

Ino Yamanaka suppressed a sigh as she trudged ahead of her team. It had been exactly a month since her graduation from the academy, and life as a genin was not all it was cracked up to be. She had grown up listening to her daddy's tales of fighting fearsome foes, protecting helpless civilians and standing as the guardian of her home village. Nowhere in those stories had there been anything about picking up dog shit at the Inuzaka kernels, babysitting octuplets (honestly how had that woman carried them in her uterus?), or catching constantly escaping cats that had near jounin level senses when it came to detecting sneaking genin.

On top of it, she had her two childhood bum friends as her teammates. Shikamaru was as lazy as any of his kinsmen. The only reason he hadn't died from suffocation, a rather troublesome exercise requiring breathing being the only preventative measure, can only be attributed to his fear of what his mother might do to him if he did. Death wasn't seen as a viable form of escape in the Nara clan when it came to their women's tempers. Unassuming Chouji was still the chubby klutz with weight sensitivity issues she had grown up with. The only thing that had changed was his waist line.

Truth be told, she had known that there were slim chances she would ever end up with the Uchiha. The Ino-Shika-Cho team formation was legendary in the shinobi world, and traditionally whenever there were members of those three clans in the same age range they would be thrown together as a team regardless of whether they graduated together or not. There had not been a graduating class with all three members of those clans together since her own father's team with the father's of her current teammates, and she had been under no illusion who she would be partnered up with.

Still she had to fight back the stab of annoyance as she turned her gaze back towards the smoking jounin that was her sensei. The man could give Shikamaru a run for his money when it came to laziness and the chain smoking certainly added to her ire due to her acute sense of smell she had developed while helping out in her mother's flower shop.

They had just finished another mission of chasing down Tora the cat and was currently headed at a leisurely pace to Chouji's favorite BBQ restaurant. Seeing the slouched form of the shadow user and the chip scarfing face of the Akamichi, Ino had to fight down yet another sigh. She really got the bottom of the barrel when it came to team assignment.

A flash of pink at the edge of her peripheral vision caught her attention and the blonde girl swiveled her head around in time to see her rival for Sasuke's affection leap off a rooftop onto the main road. The Yamanaka rubbed her eyes to ensure that the figure ahead of her was indeed Sakura. Feeling her jaws hang open, Ino couldn't believe how much her former friend had changed in the past month since they had last seen each other.

Gone was the shoulder length hair that had once been the envy of the majority of the female population in the academy. The short efficient cut was not ugly by any means, in fact it suited the shape of Sakura's face quite well if she was being honest and exposed a relatively well proportioned neck for the world to see. Once pale skin that had been carefully maintained by lotions and imported oils had been replaced by a leathery tan that contrasted fiercely with Ino's memory of how her rival had looked. The Chinese style dress had been lost as well, replaced by dark skin tight shorts that hugged the waist and hips and a sleeveless zipper top dyed in army camouflage patterns.

Stylish open toed sandals that had changed as frequently as the designers could churn them had now become the dark standard issue footing of Konoha shinobi special forces, reinforced for comfort with steel plating beneath the soles to prevent cheaper brands of caltrops from puncturing the feet. Dark fingerless gloves adorner her hands and at her elbows and knees were support bandages to prevent sprains with reinforced cups at the bending joints to soften impact for the person wearing them. A hip pouch jutted out from the back of her waist, and weapon pouches were carefully taped onto both thighs with bandages.

Even from this distance Ino could make out the muscle tone on Sakura's arm, the bicep triceps and forearm clearly defined but not disgustingly so. Thin calves had given away to more visible shape and as she walked away Ino could see that even her posture had changed greatly. The Sakura she knew had strode along at a casual pace, one hand clasping the other arm in front of her when she wasn't holding anything. She now moved at a much more rapid pace, arms held gently to her side, inches away from her weapon pouches, head turning slightly to scan the area around her. The slump of her shoulders that had once dominated her posture was gone, now exchanged for a straight backed gait that conveyed a sense of urgency in her steps.

Blinking her eyes again, Ino's mind was still trying to comprehend what her eyes was telling her, but her mouth had already gotten ahead of her. "Hey Forehead!"

Sakura hadn't so much turned as pivoted in place, darting eyes pinpointing onto Ino in an instant before her tense posture had relaxed somewhat. "Ino-Pig."

Exchanging a nod with her rival's other two teammates and a respectful bow to their instructor, the pinkette turned once more to face her former best friend. "How's life been?"

"I should be asking you that Billboard Brow! Look at you! What happened?" Ino's eyes were still wide open as she struggled to process the changes to the girl she had once called friend.

Sakura looked taken aback.

"Me?"

"Yes you!"

Scratching at her cheek, the kunoichi of team 7 smiled sheepishly. "I guess I do look a little different huh?"

'A little?' thought the genin of team Asuma who were all still reeling from the changes in their former classmate.

"Listen Ino, I've got to go meet my team, but we should catch up some time!"

Thinking that this was an obvious taunt from her rival offering to brag about her time spent with Sasuke, Ino almost refused on the spot. But her own curiosity got the better of her and the Yamanaka gave a nod at her rival.

"Yeah we should. How about Saturday at Kimi's teashop at noon?"

"Ah, better make it a bit later, I have a shift at the hospital then. How about 2? I have an hour break then."

'A shift at the hospital?' thought Ino in disbelief. Just what had happened to Sakura?

"Yeah ok, see you then Billboard Brow."

Instead of flying into rage as Sakura often did when Ino called her that the girl simply gave a crooked smile that was filled with nostalgia. "See you then Pig."

With another quick bow to Asuma and a wave at the boys of team 10, the girl hurried off.

Watching her rival leave, Ino made up her mind. She would not be falling behind Sakura.

"Asuma Sensei we're going to train! As in right now!"

**Cherry Blossom Bridge **

Kakashi sat in the branches of a sakura tree that had been the reason for the name of the bridge, keeping a keen eye down below. Sakura had arrived five minutes early to the meeting as she normally did, and Sasuke had soon shown up as well, right on the dot. Naruto had yet to be seen, but no doubt he was simply hiding like Kakashi was.

Extending his senses, the jounin scoured the area for any trace of his blonde student, but found no telltale signs of the fearsome container of the Kyuubi. Years spent in the hunter-nin core had perfected Naruto's ability to hide, experience gained from stalking jumpy missing-nin who were constantly on the lookout for assassins.

No doubt the boy would reveal himself as soon as Kakashi showed, but at the moment the silver haired Hatake was content to sit and carelessly rifle through his beloved book. Down below the two present members of team 7 held their silence, though it did not appear to be an uncomfortable one. One thing Kakashi had learned about his team was that they weren't big on talking. Sasuke and Naruto only spoke up when they had to, and Sakura who may have been the chatterbox of the team was almost always too exhausted from her training sessions with Naruto to utter more than a few incoherent mumbles.

Seeing the beginnings signs of impatience from the two genin below at fifteen minutes past the hour, an eyebrow on Sasuke's forehead was beginning to twitch and Sakura's left foot was tapping a beat that would make a drummer jealous, Kakashi snapped his book shut and made the tiger seal. In an instant chakra surged through his body and he sprinted down from the tree and appeared in front of the two genin in an instant. The speed of the movement was fast, faster than the eye could follow, and the gust of wind that accompanied the inhuman dash swirled the dead leaves on the ground aiding in his dramatic entrance.

'That probably looked really badass' thought Kakashi with an eye smile at his students.

A second gust of wind swept through the bridge and the masked blonde was suddenly standing between the two other genin as if he had been there all along.

"Well now that we're all here, we can finally begin our day!" Kakashi carefully opened up his precious book and begin reading through the text, enjoying the small spike of killing intent radiating from Sasuke. Chuckling to himself internally he continued on as if nothing happened. Kakashi had discovered early on in their one on one sessions that Sasuke hated being ignored, and that it was one of the best methods to rile him up. Of course this was just to train the boy in his patience. There was nothing fun about messing with an emotionally suppressed twelve year old. Nope, none at all.

"Can we get something other than a D rank sensei?" the question from Sakura while polite still held a note of annoyance in them. It seemed his little genin were getting tired of doing D rank missions. Not that he could really blame them. He was surprised Naruto hadn't killed anyone yet. The boy wouldn't complain, oh no, orders from the Hokage were treated like the words from God himself. But having never done D ranks, the blonde treated each mission as if he were planning to storm an enemy village which had led to some very awkward moments.

Who would have thought grocery shopping would be so quick if you threatened to maim everyone in the checkout line if they didn't move. The spamming of a hundred kage bunshin had earned team 7 a permanent ban from ever taking a construction related mission again, the foremen of the crew stating that they didn't want to lose their jobs to someone capable of multiplying themselves who also happened to be strong as an ox. Or that crying children could be silenced with killing intent. That last one had been a little over the top and Kakashi had had a good long talk with Naruto about why he shouldn't be traumatizing young children like that. He wasn't sure the boy understood why, but he certainly was willing to follow his example. Funnily enough there hadn't been any more missions from that family for babysitting, and the Hokage hadn't assigned them another sitter mission since the incident.

"We're not doing missions today Sakura. Since this is the end of our month long separate training routines, I think it's time we had a little evaluation of our team's progress."

"We're doing the bell test again?" asked an eager Sasuke. Well eager by Uchiha standards meaning his eyes were about half a millimeter wider than normal. Obito had been the black sheep in his family due to his emotional expressiveness. Everyone else in that clan seemed to have been born with a scowl.

"Well we might get around to that," replied Kakashi.

The jounin began to saunter towards team 7's training ground area, his genin tailing him dutifully with Sakura taking up the back of their little troupe.

"But first I want to see for myself how Sakura's been doing." Startled, the kunoichi of the group missed a step and stumbled comically.

"I'll be sparring against you sensei?" Instead of the fear and apprehension, there was a hint of excitement in the girl's voice causing Kakashi's internal eyebrows to shoot up and off his metaphorical forehead.

'Just what have you done to this girl Naruto?' A quick glance at the blonde showed that he had a better chance of getting that answer from a wall.

"Not a bad idea Sakura. But actually I was thinking of having you and Sasuke throw down first." Eye smiling at the surprised look on both the combatants who had turned slightly to evaluate one another a the unexpected announcement, Kakashi shot another look at Naruto to see if there was any reaction.

'Should take him to a casino. He'd clear out the poker tables." mused the veteran jounin.

Somewhere at the borders of the Fire Nation a well endowed pigtailed blonde let out an explosive sneeze causing her to drop her hand which had held a straight flush. "SON OF A-!"

**AN: so yeah not much action in this chapter, just a little warm up before I get my old ideas rehashed. I don't think I'll be following the manga too closely, so it will deviate, especially in terms of powers and how things are explained. Promise next chapter will have some good fights in it. Who else is curious as to what Sakura's capable of? I am! And I'm the writer ;p **

**Anyways drop a line people, even if it's to tell me how much I suck for not updating for four years haha**


	15. Fight Club

**AN: You guys are so awesome I couldn't help but want to write! I couldn't believe the number of reviews I got when I posted the last chapter, and most of it wasn't even hateful ;p Still tracking out the plot for where I want to go with this, so this is still considered 'filler' but god do I love writing fight scenes! Time to see what our genin are capable of yes? And the theme song of this chapter is for… KABUTO! **

**Kabuto: You're going to go far kid by The Offspring**

Training ground 37 did not appear any different from any other of the 62 training areas available in Konoha. Like every other place where ninja went to maintain their peak condition as efficient killing machines, the earth was littered with scars and marks of countless ninjutsu. Carved up earth pushed in strange formations that were blackened and charred in inexplicable ways, boulders blackened and melted to a glassy sheen from being the target of countless fire techniques and countless other oddity's civilians would be hard pressed to explain.

Training posts in the rough shape of humanoid form with too many limbs stood at attention in neat little rows for those who wanted to practice their martial arts. Trees in the clearings were littered with scratch marks high up into their mighty branches from kunai as genin practiced their wall walking skills, using the living wood as a measuring board to their success. At the base of the trees the bark was often stripped away and smoothened from years of being pounded upon by bare hands as taijutsu masters sought to toughen their fists for combat.

Yet for all it's similarities to the other areas of practice, training ground 37 was also remarkably different given how generic it was. Before Konoha, it had been a clearing just like many others, untouched and unchanged in the many years of solitude that saw the occasional animal roam through or make a home in the area until they had lived out their natural lives. Senju Harashima had found this clearing when his ragtag band of followers had first settled this area and had made it into his personal training ground.

Though later there would be a designated place specifically for the Hokage, training area 37 would remain Harashima's private training area which he eventually shared with his brother Tobimaru. The second Hokage would come to train his team of genin here, one of whom would later succeed the man and become the Third Hokage. Hiruzen Sarutobi would use this land as his own area to teach his students who would later become known as the Legendary Sanin, a trio of shinobi from Konoha that would become feared throughout the lands.

The story of that team's demise is a sad one, a genius who turned his back on the teachings of his master and would later go on to become one of the most atrocious criminals in Konoha's history, a drunken and disillusioned kunoichi hailed as the woman who brought about the healing arts to Konoha who would turn her back on her village too pained to ever set foot on her ancestor's home, and the dunce who became the true embodiment of their master's teaching who would also stray from home, unable to bear the lost of his student. Said student was the Fourth Hokage who had given his life to defeat a rampaging Kyuubi that had threatened to destroy Konoha.

Before his death Arashi had been training his own team at this very training ground, and though almost all of Team 7 of that generation was dead, one still remained. Now the handing off of the torch lay with Kakashi, who was teaching this generation's group of Team 7, one of whom was the unacknowledged son of the Fouth Hokage who also happened to harbor the very demon that had killed his father.

Yes, though training ground 37 bore a remarkable resemblance to every other training field in Konoha, it alone had watched the progress and passing on of the will of fire, proudly helping generation after generation of Kohoha shinobi train to become the soldiers who would lay down their lives for their home.

It was odd really how so many of Konoha's legendary teams had bore such uncanny resemblance to one another. For theorists that believe history is simply a loop of the same events but in different time periods and under varying circumstances, they only had to point to Team 7 as their irrefutable evidence, though certainly even the most diehard of the believers in this theory can agree that there is something wrong with the latest generation of this dysfunctional team.

The ground between Sakura and Sasuke was exactly 15 meters just as they had been taught at the academy. Both inclined their spine to one another in a rigid manner, bowing in such a way so that their eyes never left their opponent. This was both a safeguard against sneak attacks and a sign of respect that one was not underestimating the abilities of the other. Between them and standing slightly back was Kakashi who had the familiar orange book opened in his left hand. Raising his free arm into the air, the man made sure that everyone present knew he wasn't paying the least bit of attention through his giggling and blushing as his one visible eye skimmed the less than appropriate novel he had in hand.

Sasuke and Sakura steadfastly ignored their sensei, both having become accustomed to the man's antics in the month they had been under his guidance. Sakura allowed her eyes to drift over briefly to the blonde form that was seated in a meditative pose on a nearby boulder, but as expected, her trainer could have been asleep for all she knew given that the mask hid all but the most minute expressions. His disinterest she knew from experience was not a sign that he did not care about her progress, simply that he expected her to succeed and that anything less was unfathomable.

This was to be her first actual spar against someone other then Naruto, and in truth Sakura was curious as to how much she had really improved. Sasuke had always been the top of their year in terms of every aspect of being a shinobi save the written portion, and even so he mostly placed in the top three in terms of score. His ninjutsu was well beyond the repertoire of academy students. Genjutsu had not been extensively studied beyond learning to recognize the signs of illusion and how to dispel them, and Sasuke had excelled at both.

Weapons had been kept to the basic kunai and shuriken, and having practiced with those blades since the crib as most Uchiha had, Sasuke had unerring accuracy with both weapons and the kunai was practically an extension of his body when he did fight with it. His traps had been created to textbook perfection and even the most demanding teacher at the academy could find no flaws in his creations other than to comment that there wasn't much creativity to them.

Kiba and Chouji were the only two who could seriously give the Uchiha any challenge in hand to hand combat. Sakura had been defeated in a matter of seconds whenever pitted against the raven haired boy as had every other girl at the academy. At some point the teachers simply stopped placing matches between Sasuke and the girls knowing that little they could say or do would improve the situation.

Now for the first time in almost two years she was once more standing across from her crush preparing for an all out spar that had rarely been allowed at the academy. Each skill had been evaluated individually to make things less complicated in the grading department, and spars that allowed for all aspects of shinobi arts had been reserved more for exhibition then actual evaluation.

The moment Kakashi gave the signal to start, both genin burst into action. Sasuke rushed forward with a fist cocked back preparing to end the match in one decisive blow as he had the last time he faced the pinkette. But Sakura was no longer that girl from two years ago. Perhaps things would have been finished already had this spar taken place a month prior, but her time spent under the tutalage of Naruto had been well spent.

'Huh, he's slow' thought Sakura.

Eyes that had been accustomed to the blinding strikes of her blonde trainer that she could barely react to made the movement of the last Uchiha seem relatively tame in comparison. In a flash her left hand had darted down to her weapon pouch and the kunoichi let fly three shuriken in one smooth motion while her right darted into the back pouch around her waist.

The razor sharp disks hissed through the air causing Sasuke to roll deftly to his left to avoid losing an eye and getting some interesting facial scars. Palming a kunai of his own, the Uchiha returned fire with the blade as he came back up to a crouching position, only to watch his female teammate smack the blade aside with her bare hands.

Sensing something amiss, Sasuke leapt back from Sakura's charging right hook, barely avoiding the fist aimed at his jaw. His sharp eyes caught the glint of metal on her hand and the pieces fell into place. A kunai was shaped in such a way so that the triangular blade could not be deflected with the bare hands without being nicked by the razor sharp edge or caught by the pointed corners where the blade ended. The only viable method was to snatch the blade out of midair, something that was easier said than done. Most who could, preferred to stick their fingers in the ring hole at the back to kill the forward momentum of the blade, but the reflexes necessary for that feat was beyond even most chunnin.

The reason Sakura had so casually batted aside the kunai without even flinching had not been a sudden acquisition of jounin level skills. At first he thought that Sakura had swiped at his head with a kunai, but further examination showed the metal glinted over the top of her fingers. She was using brass knuckles.

'Crap, this is going to be a problem.' Sasuke thought with a deepening frown as he danced between the girl's quick strikes that hissed through parted air.

Brass knuckles served as a way to enhance a person's taijutsu capabilities. Even the weakest of hits became bone jarring sledgehammer blows that made blocking a very bad idea. With the force and speed at which Sakura was throwing her punches, he'd be looking at fractures if any of them connected. And she certainly wasn't holding back, more than once she had aimed at his face. If that connected he'd probably be out of the fight instantly. Hell probably out of consciousness for the next few days if he was lucky.

Sasuke began his own counterattack, throwing a barrage of punches and sweeping kicks at his opponent. Weaving carefully between metal fortified punches Sasuke could feel his own blood boiling with excitement. This was the type of challenge he would need to overcome in order to grow stronger so that he could face that man.

His own strikes were being deftly maneuvered around or blocked, and a few times Sakura almost managed to catch his leg in a hold. So far no one had managed to land any critical hits and Sasuke for the most part had been landing a few blows while managed to avoid any strikes from Sakura's hardened fists.

'She's gotten a lot faster and more brutal with her punches, but if that's all she's capable of then this is my-!'

Lulled into a false sense of security from being so focused on avoiding the threat of Sakura's deadly punches, the Uchiha was taken by complete surprise from a snap kick out of nowhere. The whip like motion of her leg ended with a her foot against his upper cheek, missing her intended target of his jaw which would have ended the fight in one blow. As it was, the force of her kick was absorbed mostly by his cheek bone, leaving a deep gout of purple as he was sent flying backwards to land in an undignified heap. Even through the searing pain of what felt like a broken cheek bone, Sasuke managed to roll in his fall so that he could force himself into a position that allowed him to regain his feet to quickly avoid the follow up strikes from Sakura.

They never came. As he flipped himself back into an awkward crouch he witnessed the twisted motions of his opponent's fingers. The brass knuckles hindered some of the more dexterous movements of the fingers, but the bastardized hand seals didn't seem to slow Sakura down in the least bit.

'Shit ninjutsu?!'

Now Sasuke was beginning to panic a little. At that range, there was no point in using bunshin. The illusionary clones made no sound so it would not be hard to pinpoint the actual person given the distance separating them. Henge was used to deceive people and was only effective if they didn't know you were under the disguise which made it pointless in the middle of battle. And kawarimi was used to get out of a sticky situation in a fight, not attack.

Sakura fought back a grimace as she completed the final hand seal feeling the nauseating mucus sensation fill up her lungs. This was one of the few ninjutsu she had come to learn in the past four weeks. Naruto had not been the one to actually teach it to her, his repertoire of water ninjutsu was limited to the more devastating end of the scale that she had nowhere near the chakra necessary to pull those off. No, almost all of her new techniques had not actually been taught to her by her blonde comrade. Most of them had been passed on by other shinobi who had owed her pseudo sensei a favor, and apparently there had been a many such individuals who owed Naruto favors.

This particular technique had been torturous to practice, and the chunnin who had taught her had laughed at every backfired try that had ended up with her swallowing much of the snot like substance filling her lungs at the moment or that one time she had snorted it out her nose. But he had been suitably impressed when she did manage to finally pull it off, commenting that while not affecting an area as wide as his own, her incredible chakra control allowed for it to be much more effective.

'Water style: Sticky Syrup Field!'

Sasuke had managed to get halfway through the four hand seals necessary for kawarimi when Sakura had spat out a tidal wave of water. The substance hit him dead on with a splat, coating over half his body and spreading out through the training ground to form a pool of the pale blue goo that had felt like hot wet snot.

Snarling in disgust, Sasuke pushed himself up to get back at the girl who had most probably screwed up her ninjutsu only to discover his movement was completely hindered. The gooey substance clung to his feet and arms, weighting down his movements to a sluggish pace and practically gluing his feet to the ground. Struggling to free himself from the half crouch he was in, Sasuke's eyes widened as he realized the predicament he was in.

'Shit! I'm a sitting duck!'

In the moment it had taken him to realize the gravity of his situation, Sakura had already raced forward towards him. Instead of clinging to her feet, the substance seem to act more like smooth ice as she gracefully glided towards him over the sticky surface of the technique she had spewed out of her mouth. Knowing his limited movement would be a death sentence for him if Sakura got close, Sasuke decided to pull out his trump card.

Forcing chakra to his eyes, the legacy of the Uchiha clan made itself known to the world. Vision became more focused and Sakura's charging form seemed to slow down from blinding pace to a much more manageable level. As the space between them narrowed, Sasuke felt a smirk tug on his face. The sharingan was a truly magnificent tool, capable of turning the tables during even the worst odds.

Sakura's eyes narrowed as she saw her crush's eyes bled red and his pupil broke out into two coma like marks that began to rotate. She like all others in the village had of course heard of the legendary eye technique of the Uchiha clan and had studied the various abilities they gained once activated while at the academy as a part of their history lesson. Not only would Sasuke be able to predict her movements and react much more swiftly to them, he would also be able to copy any ninjutsu used by her. Luckily from having to integrate the brass knuckles into her fighting style, Sakura had come to experiment with an altered form of the normal hand seal systems, something only someone of her level of control would be capable of using.. But even without the fear of having her techniques mimicked she was still at a severe disadvantage.

Even with his movements hindered and his feet stuck to the ground, with his sharingan activated Sasuke parried each of Sakura's strikes as if they were no more than a child's playful attempts playing tag with him. His own blows landed with unerring accuracy, slipping through Sakura's guard and landing with punishing force whenever he chose to push the offensive. Even though she was the one with the free range of motion, Sakura was on the losing end of the fight.

With a violent burst of chakra, Sasuke managed to free his right foot from the grips of Sakura's technique long enough to send a kick that sent her tumbling backwards. Using the time he bought himself, Sasuke quickly swapped his body out for a nearby tree branch with a kawarimi, freeing himself from the sticky mess. Shaking off the majority of the remaining goop that was still clinging to his body, the Uchiha eyed his opponent who had regained her feet but was choosing to stay on the center of the sticky field she had created.

'Hmm smart move. I won't be able to close in on her without having to get myself stuck again' mused Sasuke.

Snatching up a dozen shurikens, he sent the spinning metal death stars out at his adversary, watching her deflect them with her guarded hands. Frowning further, Sasuke knew that he was not going to be able to win unless he could get rid of that field of sticky goo, or get Sakura to move off of it.

Making his decision and hoping that the improvements he saw in his teammate would save her, Sasuke tore through the familiar hand seals for his family's signature technique. Seeing the tiger seal being made by Sasuke, Sakura immediately knew what he was up to and raced to finish her own technique to counter.

'Fire Style: Great Fireball!'

'Water Style: Water Trumpet!'

The searing ball of flames that escaped Sasuke's mouth was met with the geyser like blast of water from Sakura's. The two opposing elements hissed as they canceled one another out in an enormous collision, filling the training field with superheated sauna steam that prickled the flesh and obscured vision.

Instinctively forcing more chakra into his eyes, Sasuke felt his normal vision that was blurred by the steam enhanced by the ability to catch the faint flicker of chakra in living things. As he expected, Sakura had used the cover of the steam to close in and take advantage of his inability to use his sharingan to it's fullest in order to end the fight. Unluckily for her, his chakra vision gave enough distinction to the human form in front of him to fight back just as easily as if the steam had not been in place.

The trading of blows was considerably in Sasuke's favor, and as the steam dissipated it became apparent that his victory was a simple question of time. Sakura had decidedly improved in her standing as a kunoichi in his eyes, the bruises and nicks across her body a testament to the fight she had put up against him. He had to admire how far his teammate had come along in the past month. Her growth from the academy cadet that followed him about like a lost puppy was simply astounding. She could proudly hold her head high when she called herself a kunoichi now, but ultimately victory would still be his.

Sensing an opening, Sasuke pivoted one foot and sent the other straight into Sakura's abdomen, sending her crashing backwards and onto her back with a grunt of pain. Snatching a spare kunai from his weapon's pouch, Sasuke pounced forward in an attempt to place the blade against a critical point on her body to signal the end of the fight.

Her foot shot up and caught his forearm and the gentle pinprick feeling against his flesh caused Sasuke to roll out from his attack midway and dance backwards. A quick glance down at his arm showed a dot of blood from where he had felt the pain, and when he looked back at Sakura she was still on her back with one leg raised up. At the bottom of the black sandal he could make out the faint glint of the tiny metal point that had pricked him. Sakura's face held a smirk reminiscent of his own whenever he knew he had won a fight.

The sinking feeling in his gut was followed by the fade of sharp vision that let him know his sharingan had died off. Feeling panic begin to well from the bottom of his stomach, Sasuke forced more chakra to his eyes, but his enhanced vision did not return.

His mouth had suddenly become inexplicably dry, his tongue weighted and fuzzy. As he backed up a step, Sasuke noticed with alarm how pale Sakura had become. Her tan skin had given way to a deathly white, her smirk stretched into a grotesque smile. The flesh around her face began to melt and sag much to his horror. As her eyeballs rotted away and maggots began to crawl out from the festering eye socket, Sasuke fought the rising feeling of anxiety and formed the tiger seal as he had been taught and tried to dispel the illusion. Repeated attempts of disconnecting himself from his chakra did nothing to clear the vision of death before him, and as he fought furiously to counter what he thought to be genjutsu, the scene of madness continued to play before him.

The trees around him began to reach down towards him with fingerlike branches, horrifying demonic faces appearing in cracks and hollows, cackling away at him as he stumbled back. Blue sky darkened into pitch black and seemed to warp in a twisted fish eye effect, distorting his view of the world. Whispers echoed in his left ear, comprehension of the words impossible as the cackling of the reaching trees drowned out any meaning they might have had.

A geometrically patterned miasma of color formed in front of his face, and Itachi looked back at him from within each of the shapes, his head tiled at different angles, each face depicting a different emotion. Crying. Laughing. Bored. Happy. Mad. Sad. The millions of faces of his brother continued to rotate before his eyes, all the while the world around him darkened and got smaller and smaller.

"Still too weak little brother." The synchronized whisper from each of the Itachi's faces were oddly contrasted by the emotions they displayed and Sasuke felt the bubble of a hysterical giggle build up in his throat. This was too much. This was crazy!

"I win." The soft whisper in his ear echoed from a million miles away, and was followed by a devastating blow to his stomach that felt like he had been kicked by a horse. His diaphragm cramped from the heavy blow and his breath caught in his throat. But even as he lay on his back with a heavy gasp, the strange distorted visions before him did not fade.

"Still too weak little brother." The millions of Itachi all frowned at once and looked down on him. Reaching up as one, they grasped the flesh on their left eyebrows with clawed hands until red bled out between the fingers. The wet tearing sound of flesh echoed horribly in his ears as the skin was torn away from all their faces, revealing ivory masks with a cross shaped red scar etched into their surface. The eyes that stared out from beneath the face masks were black, the midnight hue of the Uchiha clan. As one, millions of eyes warped into the familiar melted red tripronged sharingan that had haunted his nightmares for so long.

"Still too weak Uchiha."

As the blackness came, Sasuke gratefully slipped into a state of unconsciousness.

**AN: Boy did I have fun writing that last piece. And just to specify, it had not been genjutsu that had been used against Sasuke. Cookie for anyone who figured out what it was Sakura did! And no this is not all that Sasuke and Sakura are capable of, just a simple warm up exercise I decided to write when I saw how many reviews I got for my last posting.**

**Anyways gonna definitely be a bit longer between this and the next chapter, but that's when the plot starts =) In the mean time I'll also be cleaning up the first few chapters, and I'll be letting ya'll know when that's done. Not sure if I'm just going to post the changes all in one go or do chapter by chapter yet, but I'll figure it out depending on how my schedule at school goes. I hope to hear from you guys, it really gets me all fired up to write knowing people are reading it! Until next time!**


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